BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Sophomore Ryan Ingalls’ sank a career and game-high three shots from beyond the arc midway through the second half as Lehigh overcame a sluggish start to overtake archrival Lafayette 62-50 at Stabler Arena on Saturday evening. Senior Adrienne Blount was one of three players to score a game-high 17 points and she also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, getting a bulk of her stats in the second half (13 points, eight rebounds). Classmate Sara Ellis chipped in with 15 points, including eight from the free throw line. The Mountain Hawks, having won their last two games, now improve to 7-12 overall and 2-3 in the Patriot League, while Lafayette falls to 4-15 overall and 2-3 in league play.
“We were down early and had to notch it up defensively,” said head coach Sue Troyan, who is 11-2 all-time against Lafayette at Stabler Arena. “That enabled our offense to get back into the game. Ryan’s three three-pointers were huge and came at a critical moment of the game”
After jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead off a lay-up by Blount at 19:33, Lafayette outscored Lehigh 16-1 over the next six minutes. However, freshman Wendy Szczerbiak’s free throw at 12:30 would start a 12-0 run spanning over four minutes. Junior Kaela Pearce’s ignited the field goal spark that Lehigh needed, getting the team’s first field goal since Blount’s game-opening lay-up.
After a three-pointer by Alex Ross made the score 16-13 in favor of Lafayette, Pearce brought the Mountain Hawks to within one, converting on both of her free throw attempts with 8:29 remaining. Vanessa Van De Venter gave Lafayette a three-point lead by sinking both of her free throws, but Ellis nailed her only three-pointer of the game to make the score 18-18 with 7:29 to go in the half.
Lafayette would try to pull away in the last part of the first half, but was only able to get a two-point cushion before Lehigh would knot up the game. Emily Garner eventually gave Lafayette a four point lead off free throws, but Ellis sank both of her foul shots with 35 seconds remaining as Lafayette went into the half with a 26-24 advantage.
Van De Venter and Garner built an eight point lead for the Leopards, who led the Mountain Hawks 36-28 at the 14:16 mark in the second half. However, Lehigh would begin its final comeback of the game when Blount hit a lay-up and also drew a foul at the same time.
Trailing 36-31, Ingalls drained three-straight treys to give Lehigh a 40-36 lead with 9:38 remaining—the first lead for the Mountain Hawks since scoring the game’s first two points. For Ingalls, it was a new career-high for three-point field goals made and the first time all season she has hit multiple treys in one game.
From that point on, it was all Lehigh’s game as the Mountain Hawks eventually built a 14 point lead with 23 seconds remaining. The Mountain Hawks outscored Lafayette 38-24 in the final half.
Garner and Van De Venter each scored a game-high 17 points for the Leopards. Van De Venter also pulled down a team-high seven boards.
Lehigh returns to action on Wednesday night when the Mountain Hawks head to Lewisburg, Pa. to face Bucknell at Sokja Pavilion at 7:00 pm. The game will be the first of three straight road games for the Brown and White. Live audio can be heard in the Lehigh Valley on WLVR-FM (91.3) as well as worldwide online at lehighsports.com, with streaming provided by Yahoo! Sports.
