Outscoring the visiting Mississippi College women’s basketball team 59-38 over the last three periods, Lee University posted a 72-46 GSC victory over the Choctaws inside Walker Arena on Thursday evening. The win improved the Lady Flames record to 11-3 overall and 5-3 in conference play. Mississippi College dropped to 9-6, 5-4.
Lee will be watching the weather and is scheduled to host Delta State on Saturday afternoon (2 p.m.). If the predicted snow delays Saturday’s play, the action will be moved to Sunday (2 p.m.).
Off to a slow start, the Lady Flames led only 10-8 at the end of the first period, but outscored the Choctaws 21-13 in the second quarter and claimed a 31-21 lead at the halftime break.
The margin continued to grow in the third frame as Lee outscored the Choctaws 18-15 and enjoyed a 49-36 advantage. The final 10 minutes saw Coach Marty Rowe’s team take complete control and outscored the Mississippi team 23-10 in claiming the key conference win.
Ten different Lady Flames went to the glass for rebounds as they outrebounded the visitors 30-25. Mallory Hampton had five boards to go along with her 25 points. She was 13-of-14 from the charity stripe and 5-of-12 from the field. Anna Muhonen finished with 14 points and four rebounds. Haylee Johnson added 11 points and four assists.
Kara Williams turned in her best overall effort of the season. She nailed 3-of-4 triples and totaled nine points while grabbing four rebounds. Mia Hurst had eight points while Addison Smith joined in the rebounding with four. Lee outscored the Choctaws 28-22 in points in the paint and 18-15 in points off the bench. Coach Rowe singled out Baylee Delbridge for her defensive effort and the coach was able to play 12 of the 13 players that were dressed out.
After shooting only 29% in the first quarter the Lady Flames finished the contest shooting 51% (23-of-45). They also made 7-of-16 points from beyond the arc (44%) and canned 19-of-21 free throws. The Choctaws were held to 33% shooting overall and made just 1-of-10 triples. They were awarded 24 freebies and converted 15.
Three Mississippi College players scored in double figures. Tytiana Buckley had 13 points to lead the Choctaws scoring. Alexis Rowe tallied 12 points and Tiara Abron finished with 10. Keller Bigham came off the bench to lead her team in rebounding with five.