Aggressive Warhawks hand Lady Flames 68-52 defeat

CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Visiting Auburn University at Montgomery held the Lee University women’s basketball team to single-digit scoring in the first and fourth quarters in posting a 68-52 GSC victory over the Lady Flames inside Walker Arena on Thursday evening. The loss dropped Lee to 8-4 in conference play and 14-4 overall. The Warhawks improved to 5-7, 7-10.

Playing without injured starters Mallory Hampton and Baylee Delbridge, the Lady Flames fell behind 12-7 in the low scoring first quarter. Both teams picked up the pace in the second frame and Lee outscored AUM 20-16 and trailed only 28-27 at the halfway mark.

The tight battle continued in the third period with the Lady Flames taking the lead at one point before the Warhawks came back and outscored Lee 20-16 in the frame and earned a 48-43 margin heading into the final 10 minutes of play. AUM ran past Lee 20-9 and finished what was a tight battle until the last six minutes of action.

Senior Mia Hurst, communications major, led the Lady Flames with 17 points against AUM.

Danielle Luckey set the pace for the Warhawks. Her double-double featured 16 points and a dominating 18 rebounds. Samya Brooks was the leading scorer in the contest with 19 points. She also claimed seven rebounds as AUM outboarded Lee 45-41. Allasha Dudley was held to 10 points.

The Lady Flames were led by Mia Hurst with 17 points. She had three of Lee’s five 3-point shots that were made. Haley Cameron finished with 11 points and was the leading rebounder with five. Haylee Johnson dished off 11 of her team’s 14 assists.

Lee shot 31% from the field (22-of-71) and made just 18% of shots from beyond the arc (5-of-28). They went to the line only five times and converted three. The defense held the Warhawks to 39% shooting overall (24-of-62). The visitors attempted 12 triples and canned two (17%). Their aggressive style of play was rewarded with 23 free throws and they connected on 18. Both teams had 12 turnovers.

The Lady Flames return to action on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. and will seek revenge against a Montevallo team that handed Lee one of its four defeats on Dec. 5 by a 67-59 total.

Coach Marty Rowe’s thoughts:

“We got outplayed down the stretch. I thought for most of the game we hung in and fought but obviously we didn’t perform well down the stretch. We can’t get hammered on the glass in the second half and consistently allow easy post touches, that’s a recipe for what happened tonight. Haylee Jo did all she could do tonight, playing 40 minutes and having 11 assists which is incredible considering we only made 22 shots. We have to finish plays, plain and simple on both ends of the court. We’re going through some adversity, big deal! It’s part of the game and we don’t have time to feel sorry for ourselves. We’ve got veteran players that need to step up in the moment.”