AKRON, Ohio – Freshman Kristen Dalton was hot from three-point range on Sunday afternoon at James A. Rhodes Arena, but it would not be enough as the Mountain Hawks fell to Akron 62-61. Dalton was 4-for-7 from three-point range, sinking three of her four treys in the second half, including one at the buzzer at the end of the game. Lehigh now falls to 2-6 on the season, while Akron snaps its three-game losing streak to improve to 2-6.
“It was a strong defensive effort,” said head coach Sue Troyan, “but I thought we struggled on offense. Kristen really stepped it up for us in the end. We just have to learn to win the close games.”
Senior Sara Ellis nailed two shots from behind the arc in the opening four minutes to give the Mountain Hawks the early lead. With Akron holding a 20-16 advantage, senior Adrienne Blount reeled off six straight points to make it a 22-20 Lehigh lead with 4:21 left in the first half. Akron would tie the game off a jumper by Sarah Tokodi, but Lehigh would get two three-pointers from Ellis and Dalton and a pair of Dalton free throws to lead the Zips 30-26 going into the half. It would be the first time since February 18 that Lehigh went into the half leading the game and scoring at least 30 points.
Both teams had their chances in first part of the second half, but Lehigh and Akron were only able to convert off free throws until freshman Alex Ross sank a jumper at 12:51 to give the Mountain Hawks a 33-29 lead. It was the first field goal since Dalton’s three-pointer at 1:11 in the first half.
Akron would go on to mount its comeback, getting a jumper and a three-pointer from Niki McCoy to give the Zips a 41-39 lead with 8:01 remaining. Lehigh would hold the lead on final time off jumper by Blount, but Akron opened up the scoring as the Zips got 19 points in the remaining 5:50.
Three Mountain Hawks reached double-digits as Dalton led the way with a season-high 20 points. Blount posted 16 points, while Ellis had 10. McCoy led the Zips in scoring for the fourth time this season, netting 19 points.
The Mountain Hawks return to Stabler Arena on Thursday night when they host Binghamton at 7:00 pm. Live audio of the game will be broadcast in the Lehigh Valley on WLVR-FM. Live audio and video of the game will be broadcast online at lehighsports.com with streaming provided by Yahoo! Sports.
