Friday, March 6
Worcester, Mass.
6 p.m.
Lehigh University
18-11
75
at
62
No. 3 Holy Cross
15-17
1
2
F
Lehigh
40
35
75
Holy Cross
16
46
62
Strong first half propels Lehigh to 75-62 win at Holy Cross in Patriot League Quarterfinals
3/6/2015 8:43:00 PM | Women's Basketball
WORCESTER, Mass. – The sixth-seeded Lehigh women's basketball used an explosive first half and held off a late Holy Cross rally to upset the third-seeded Crusaders 75-62 Friday night at the Hart Center in the Patriot League Quarterfinals. The Mountain Hawks controlled a 40-16 lead at halftime and warded off the surging Crusaders with the help of key makes from the free throw line in the final few minutes of play. With the win, the Mountain Hawks advance to Monday's Patriot League Semifinals for the first time since the 2011-12 season. Lehigh will head to No. 2 Army, who beat No. 7 Colgate 48-45 in overtime tonight, Monday for the semifinal round.
"The first half was definitely one of the best halves of basketball we've played all season on both ends of the floor," said head coach Sue Troyan. "The girls came out on all cylinders and were really dialed in to what we wanted to do. Our seniors (Katie O'Reilly and Sarah Williams) made some key shots late to really step up big and put it away for us."
The Mountain Hawks improve to 18-11 overall with the win, while Holy Cross ends its season at 15-17 overall.
Five Mountain Hawks scored in double-figures to lead Lehigh to victory. Junior Kerry Kinek led the balanced scoring with a team-best 17 points and squad-high eight rebounds. Senior Sarah Williams followed with 13 points, while freshman Quinci Mann (12), sophomore Lexi Martins (11) and senior Katie O'Reilly (10) rounded out the double-digit scorers. O'Reilly also dished a team-best four assists and snatched three steals.
The Mountain Hawks finished the game shooting 49.1 percent (27-for-55) from the field, 36.4 percent (4-for-11) from downtown and 60.7 percent (17-for-28) from the free throw line. Lehigh held Holy Cross to 35.4 percent (23-for-65) from the floor, 17.6 percent (3-for-17) from three-point range and 81.3 percent (13-for-16) from the charity stripe. The Crusaders controlled a 42-36 rebound advantage.
Raquel Scott led Holy Cross with 20 points, 16 of which came in the Crusaders' second half comeback attempt.
A three-pointer from Kinek opened the scoring just over a minute into the contest before a free throw from Williams made it 4-0 Lehigh and the Mountain Hawks held Holy Cross to an 0-for-7 start from the field. The score read 6-4 at 16:33 as Scott scored the Crusaders' first four points, but the Mountain Hawks quickly used six unanswered points to pull ahead 12-4 and force a Holy Cross timeout with 15:17 to play in the first half.
A Mann layup followed the intermission as Lehigh extended its run to 8-0. A Tricia Byrne layup stopped the Mountain Hawk streak with 12:42 on the clock before the score read 18-8 in favor of Lehigh at the 10:45 mark. Four points from junior Amina Affini and baskets from Kinek and Martins comprised another lengthy Lehigh run, this time an 8-0 streak that took 4:19 off the clock as Lehigh extended its lead to a commanding 26-8 before a pair of Holy Cross free throws halted the streak with 6:26 on the clock.
Lehigh continued to dominate the Crusaders for the remainder of the opening half as the Mountain Hawks never allowed Holy Cross to score more than two points in a row. Lehigh used a 14-8 run over the final six minutes of the opening term to carry a commanding 40-16 lead into halftime. Lehigh held Holy Cross to 22.6 percent (7-for-31) from the field and 0-for-8 from downtown in the opening term. The Mountain Hawks shot 54.5 percent (18-for-33) from the floor during the first half and 30 of Lehigh's 40 points came in the paint.
Junior Elizabeth Sharlow drained a three-pointer to open the second half to help Lehigh's lead stay at 24 at 46-22 at the first media timeout of the final term. The Mountain Hawks answered every Holy Cross basket over the next few minutes and led by as much at 52-27 with 14:32 to play. The Crusaders embarked on a 16-6 run over the next six minutes to pull within 15 at 58-43 following a conventional three-point play from Scott.
A pair of Kinek free throws followed, but Scott converted another conventional three-point play to pull the Crusaders within 14 at 60-46 as the clock wound down to 7:48. The Crusaders were within 12 a minute later, but Martins tossed in Lehigh's first field goal since the 10:11 mark before a pair of O'Reilly free throws re-extended the Mountain Hawk advantage to 16 at 65-49 with 5:26 to play.
Holy Cross responded with a 9-2 run over the next two minutes with the help of six points from Scott as the Crusaders narrowed the Lehigh lead to 67-58 with 3:26 on the clock. Holy Cross was within seven a moment later, but four points from O'Reilly gave Lehigh a comfortable 71-62 lead with just over a minute to play. Holy Cross had no choice but to foul the Mountain Hawks and Williams converted 4-for-4 attempts from the charity stripe down the stretch to help capture the 75-62 win and catapult Lehigh into Monday's Patriot League Semifinals.
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Team Stats
LEHIGH
HC
FG%
.491
.354
3FG%
.364
.176
FT%
.607
.813
RB
36
42
TO
14
17
STL
8
8
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
17
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
13
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
5
Pts
12
FGM
5
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
11
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G/F
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballG
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