BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – In a physical matchup, the Lee University women's basketball team fell in the Gulf South Conference tournament semifinals 51-48 to the University of Alabama in Huntsville on Saturday afternoon. The Lady Flames never trailed by more than nine points and never led by more than three. With the loss Lee, fell to 24-6 on the season and will await to see what their fate will be in the NCAA Tournament. The selection show is set for 10 PM EST on Sunday evening at ncaa.com.
Lee could not overcome the slow shooting start in the first quarter as they were 2-for-15 from the floor. UAH wasn't that much better as they were 5-for-13 and they led 11-7.
Lee outscored UAH 17-15 in the second quarter and trailed 26-24 at the break. In the second half, it was a dual between Lili Wilken for UAH and Mallory Hampton for Lee. Wilken scored 14 of her 21 points in the second half and Hampton had eight in the last twenty minutes.
UAH was up 44-39 with about four minutes to go in the contest before Hampton hit her second three point shot of the game. After another UAH bucket, Mia Hurst hit another three to make it 48-45. Moments later after a turnover by UAH, Hampton hit another three to tie the game at 48-48 with 1:02 left on the clock.
On the next Charger possession, Alexis Woods was fouled and made both of her free throws. On the ensuing Lee possession, Haylee Johnson missed a layup and then committed a foul. Woods was one of two from the charity stripe to make it 51-48.
Lee had a chance to tie it with a long three from Hurst but the shot missed and went out of bounds with seven seconds left. When UAH tried to inbound the ball they had a five second violation and gave Lee another chance. On the first inbound UAH deflected the ball out and Lee got it back with four seconds left. The inbounds play was stolen away and UAH won the game.
UAH only had four players score in the contest. Wilkin had 21 points while Woods added 18 points and 11 rebounds. Bella White had six points and Millie Brown had six.
Lee had 15 from Hampton while Johnson and Hurst each had eight. Lee was 18-for-56 from the floor in the contest and 8-of-29 from long range.
Both teams had ten turnovers while UAH had a 39-35 edge in rebounds.
Coach Rowe's Thoughts:
"Against a well-coached team like UAH, you have to be really good on both offense and defense in the last seven seconds of the shot clock and just weren't good enough today. We put ourselves in spots they could take advantage of today. We competed hard today but didn't play our best. Now we have to sit back and wait to see if our number gets called for the NCAA tournament.
