Guided by a balanced scoring attack and smothering defense the Lee women’s basketball team defeated Alabama Huntsville, 72-56 on Saturday afternoon from Walker Arena.
The Lady Flames jumped out to a 21-12 lead and never look back en route to their fourth straight victory over the Chargers. Lee has won six of seven overall against the Alabama club.
Carrie Cheeks posted 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Erin Walsh followed with 14 points on 6 for 11 shooting from the field. Point guard Abby Bertram registered 13 points and dished off seven assists while Anna Woodford made it four players in double-figures with her 10 points.
Walsh’s 14 points move her into a tie for 15th place on Lee’s all-time scoring list. The junior is totaled 1,232 points. Up next on the list is Stacy Felchner with 1,299.
The stingy Lee defense forced the Chargers into 19 turnovers, swatted away four shots and ripped off 10 steals. The Lady Flames dominated the glass holding a 43-34 edge over UAH while securing 13 offensive boards, leading to 12 second-chance points.
“I thought today we did a nice job bouncing back after a tough loss on Thursday. Our girls have shown that ability this year and tonight was no different,” said assistant coach Jan Spangler. “We had a good practice yesterday and talked about looking to get the ball inside and cleaning up some things with our guards. I thought you saw that tonight, we did a better job of executing and now the test for us is to sustain this and respond to this win on Thursday with a similar performance.”
UAH was led in scoring by Chandler Elder with 21 points. Elder went to the foul 16 times and cashed in 11. Baylee Johnson followed 19 points while Morgan Tipton canned three triples for her nine points to go along with six rebounds.
Lee finished the game at 40 percent shooting (25 of 63) and hit seven 3s. The Chargers were limited to just 17 field goals and converted 5 of 18 from beyond the arc. The Chargers fall to 2-14 on the year and 1-10 in league play.
“Moving forward we need to execute and make sure we limit silly mistakes and turnovers and just understand what we’re trying to accomplish as a group,” said Spangler. Hopefully we will see a positive carryover from this game on Thursday.
The Lady Flames improved to 12-5 overall and are 7-4 in the GSC. Lee will welcome Union to town on Thursday for a 6 p.m. tip. The game will be carried on ESPN 3 and the first 1,000 fans will received a “white out” t-shirt and rally towel.
Twenty-fifth ranked University of Alabama Huntsville rode the scoring of seniors Brandon Roberts and Seab Webster to a hard-fought victory over the Lee men on Saturday afternoon in Walker Arena. The win improved the Chargers record to 9-2 in the Gulf South Conference and 13-4 overall. Lee dropped to 5-6 in league play and 9-8 overall.
Roberts converted 12-of-14 free throws and also hit 10-of-13 shots from the field, 2-of-4 treys (34 points) and Webster got the visiting Chargers off to a quick start in the second half and tallied 22 points. He was 8-of-15 from the field and 4-of-12 from beyond the arc as Huntsville out-scored the battling Flames 101-94.
The Chargers cashed in at the free-throw line in the opening 20 minutes, making 13-of-18 attempts, while the Flames were only awarded four freebies and canned three. However, Lee managed to lead the contest at the half, 48-46.
After Huntsville moved out to its largest lead of the game (11 points), the Flames fought back and cut the lead to only four points in the final minute before Roberts sliced through the lane, converted a layup and was fouled on the play. The old fashioned 3-point play sealed the win for the talented Chargers.
The Flames managed to stay within striking distance by making nine 3-pointers in the opening half in finishing the contest with 16-of-30 triple attempts. They also went to the line 21 times in the second stanza and knocked down 19. Both teams shot the basketball extremely well. The Chargers shot 55 percent from the field and 44 percent from beyond the arc. They converted 23-of-30 charity tosses.
"They are a very good basketball team," said coach Bubba Smith. "I'm proud of the way our guys battled the entire game. A few breakdowns on defense cost us a chance to win. Roberts is an outstanding player and found ways to get to the basket. We just had way too many fouls called against us in the opening half and Huntsville's quick start in the second half hurt our chances."
The Flames got double-figure scoring from four players. Jervon Johnson turned in his best performance of the season with a team-leading 21 points. He was 6-of-6 from the free-throw line and knocked down 3-of-7 treys. Cody Jones caused the Charger defense plenty of problems by nailing 6-of-11 3-pointers and finished the contest with 18 points. Levi Woods was solid with 3-of-4 treys and 4-of-5 free throws (15 points). Keevin Tyus was held to 12 points but still recorded a double-double with 10 rebounds.
The Flames also shot 53 percent from the field and 53 percent from beyond the arc. Lee had 12 turnovers and Huntsville only recorded six floor mistakes in the win.
The Chargers out-rebounded the Flames by a narrow 30-29 margin. Webster had six rebounds to go along with is 22 points. Troy Saxton canned a pair of key triples and totaled 10 points. Justin Ward was 2-of-3 from behind the arc and was 4-of-4 on freebie attempts and also finished with 10 points.
The Flames will return to action on Thursday evening and host Union University in an ESPN3 contest. It will also be white-out night in Walker Arena and some 1,000 white T-shirts and 1,000 towels will be distributed.