PENSACOLA, Fla. - After falling behind by 12 points in the first half, then trailing by 10 at halftime, the Argos produced their best second half to roll past No. 23-ranked Lee 71-57 at the UWF Field House.
The Lady Flames (9-2) had allowed only two opponents to score more than 60 points and led the Gulf South Conference in team defense with a 55.6 per-game average. UWF (7-3) scored 43 points in the second half and had eight of their nine players in the scoring column.
"We just cranked it up," said UWF coach Stephanie Lawrence-Yelton, whose team was coming off a 64-62 GSC win at Valdosta State last Sunday. "I see moments of that in our team during practice every day. Collectively, if we could crank it up, we could play like that a lot.
"When we go through the motions, we're not good. When we're really focused and determined on hunting shots, playing good defense, rebounding well, we're really good."
That was the UWF team Thursday night that went on a 15-2 run to start the second half. The Argos got a 3-pointer from Carmen Jones with 4:48 left in the third quarter to complete the run. She was one of four different players in the stretch to score. Lee came back to take a 44-43 lead with 4:18 left in the quarter, then never led again.
Delaney Trushel finished a drive to the basket for the Argos to make it 47-44 with eight seconds left to end the third quarter with a lead. Trushel finished with eight points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals.
In the fourth quarter, the Argos Rylie Stephens and Haidyn Pitsch took over. Stephens scored five points in a two-minute stretch that enabled UWF to build a nine-point lead. She finished with a game-high 18 points, along with 10 rebounds.
Pitsch hit a trio of 3-point shots to give UWF a 62-51 lead with 5:27 left. From that point, UWF maintained a double-digit lead. "That was amazing," Yelton said. "That enabled us to stretch the lead. Haidyn is capable of doing that and she has done that for us at times this season."
Seniors Bella Stone and Bella Green were also big difference-makers in UWF's win. Stone's defensive effort was matched by her production that included 11 points, four assists, two steals. Green had 17 points, eight rebounds and two blocks.
The team's performance was a notable turnaround after the Argos couldn't thwart Lee from going on a 12-0 run in the second quarter that turned a tie game into a big deficit. "We started feeling sorry for ourselves," Yelton said. "And at times this season, we start feeling sorry for ourselves. And I told our kids, you understand that all happened (12-0 run) in a two and a half-minute span. So, what can we do in that span to negate that."
"And that's what you saw after the half. At halftime we really challenged the players about stepping into their own shoes and playing with confidence and that's exactly what you saw."
The Argos will close out their first two months of the season, along with the pre-Christmas holiday portion of the schedule, when facing Trevecca Nazarene on Saturday at the UWF Field House at 2:00 p.m.
"I hope we get confidence," Yelton said. "I hope we understand this is how hard you have to play in our league to be competitive. I thought it was a big growing up point. I'm proud of our team for that effort, that energy, that intensity they brought."
