NC Tennessee News

For the second straight year, the University of West Florida has come into Walker Arena and posted an impressive victory over the Lee University women's basketball team. Led by Jaclyn Jarnot's 22 points and 12 rebounds, the Argonauts handed the Lady Flames their first GSC loss of the season on Thursday evening, 76-68. 

The defeat dropped Lee to 12-1 in conference play and 14-3 overall. West Florida improved to 10-3 in league play and 10-5 overall. The Lady Flames will face another challenge on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. when Valdosta State comes to town. The Lady Blazers defeated Shorter on Thursday and improved to 12-1 in GSC action. They have not lost since a setback to the Lady Flames way back on Nov. 17. 

"Give all the credit to West Florida, tonight they were just better than us. They were better prepared and deserved to win the game," remarked Lee head coach Marty Rowe after his team's 11-straight winning streak came to an end. "The margin of error shrinks the second time through the league as coaches make adjustments and you saw the adjustments Stephanie (Yelton) made paid off for her team tonight." 

With Jarnot leading the way, the Argonauts outrebounded the Lady Flames by a 40-23 margin. They also outscored Lee 34-22 in points in the paint. "This league is tough, and you can't expect to win if you get out rebounded by 17. We've got to be better than that on Saturday for sure," added Rowe. "This is a resilient bunch though and I'm looking forward to seeing how we handle this setback." 

West Florida shot 51% from the field (22-of-43) and connected on six triples. The visitors were awarded 31 free throws and made 26 (84%). On the other hand, the Lady Flames had just 11 freebies and made 10. For the game, Lee shot 39% overall (26-of-66) and struggled from beyond the arc, nailing just 6-of-26 (23%). On the plus side, the Lady Flames forced 16 Argo turnovers and made just seven floor mistakes. 

The contest was deadlocked at 15 at the end of the first quarter but the Pensacola team outscored the Lady Flames 22-12 in the second period and led 55-43 at the half. The Lady Flames went deeper in the hole in the third period after being outscored again 18-16 but made a serious comeback midway in the final period.  

Addison Smith and Haley Schubert scored back-to-back 3-pointers and Mallory Hampton hit her first trey of the night. The Argo lead was trimmed to only four points. After a timeout, Zoe Piller helped put an end to the comeback by scoring seven-straight points and Lee was never able to seriously threaten again.  

Piller finished with 17 points for the Argonauts. Moriah Taylor turned in a solid game, making 6-of-6 free throws and finishing with 14 points. Haylee Luttrell rounded out the double-figure scoring with 11 markers. 

The Lady Flames were paced by Schubert who tallied a career-high 35 points, but it was not enough. She made 12 shots from the field and canned 9-of-10 free throws. Hannah Garrett hit a pair of 3s and finished with eight points. Smith had six points and led Lee with four rebounds. Hampton dished off six assists.

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