Johnson, Smith lead Lady Flames in a huge victory over UAH

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – A pair of veterans helped lead the Lee University women’s basketball team to a major 67-62 GSC victory over host University of Alabama in Huntsville on Thursday evening inside Spragins Hall. With a pair of starters remaining sidelined with injuries, Haylee Johnson continued her outstanding play and Addison Smith turned in one of her best efforts of the season as the Lady Flames handed the Chargers their first home court loss of the season.

The king-sized win improved Lee to 10-4 in GSC play and 16-4 overall. UAH dropped to 11-3 and 16-4. Johnson set a blistering pace in the first half by scoring 21 points. With the Charger defense focused on stopping the Lee guard in the second half, she still finished the contest with 27 points. Her numbers were a highlight, 9-of-16 shooting overall, 2-of-4 triples and 7-of-12 from the charity stripe. She paced the Lady Flames in rebounding with eight, dished off seven assists and turned the basketball over only twice. 

Hayley Johnson (center, in a previous game) led with 27 points as the Lady Flames handed UAH their first home loss of the season. (File Photo/Lee Athletics)

Smith made key shots down the stretch. For the contest she was 5-of-6 from the field, 2-of-3 from behind the arc and finished with 12 points. Bailey Burgess and Mia Hurst added seven points apiece. Six different Lady Flames connected on 3-pointers. Overall, Lee was 25-of-51 (49%) in shots from the field. They connected on 8-of-26 triples (31%) and in the clean-played game, Lee was awarded 14 freebies and made nine.

The Lady Flames jumped out to a nine-point lead in the first period and led 21-17 at the first stop. Lee outscored the home team 15-10 behind Johnson’s shooting and led 36-27 by halftime. The Chargers were not about to go away and their defense tightened, holding Lee to 13 points in the third frame and cutting the margin to 49-44.

Things grew even tighter in the final 10 minutes. The Chargers sliced the lead to 59-57 before two Johnson buckets built the lead back out to 63-57 with 2:30 remaining. Things looked even better for the Lady Flames when Johnson was fouled and canned a pair of free throws to push the lead to 64-59 with 1:50 left.

The host Huntsville club would not go away and forced Lee to call a timeout when they scored a bucket and cut the Lady Flames lead to 64-62 with 1:29 left on the scoreboard clock. Kara Williams made her biggest shot of the evening and put Lee back up 66-62. A missed field goal attempt by the Chargers and a free throw by Lee salted the huge victory away.

Four UAH players scored in double figures to keep the battle close. Lilli Wilken tallied 16 points and Haley Nichols followed closely with 15. Millie Brown and Bella White finished with 11 markers apiece. White, one of the smaller players on the floor, also captured nine rebounds.

The Chargers outboarded Lee 34-30. They shot 43% from the field (25-of-58) and made 5-of-21 triples (24%). Like Lee they were awarded just 13 free throws and converted seven. Huntsville turned the basketball over 10 times and the Lady Flames committed just eight floor mistakes.

Lee continues its road adventures on Saturday, moving on down to Livingston, Ala. and testing the University of West Alabama in a GSC contest slated for a 3 p.m. start.

Coach Marty Rowe’s thoughts:

“That was a gutsy performance by our team. Huntsville is one of the best teams in our region and to beat them at their place takes a special performance on both ends of the floor. I can’t say enough about the toughness we showed down the stretch. We will enjoy this one tonight but it is a short turn around in this league and we will have to be ready to go again on Saturday.”