Lehigh University
Colgate
Lehigh cruises past Colgate 68-50
2/13/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
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“We’re just taking it one game at a time at this point,” said head coach Sue Troyan. “This was a critical game to win with the tight race between third and eighth place in the league. It was a solid team effort and we established the tempo of the game early to really put the game away in the first half. After our disappointing loss on Saturday, the girls really fought back tonight.”
After Gretchen Polinski made a game-opening lay-up just six seconds into the game, the Mountain Hawks exploded for ten straight points from senior Adrienne Blount and freshman Alex Ross. TaHara Williams swished a three-point shot to end the Raiders’ scoring drought at 15:52, but Ross responded 11 seconds later with a trey of her own to make the score 13-5 in favor of Lehigh. Ross’ three-pointer also sparked a 12-0 by the Mountain Hawks, who led the game 22-5 at the 14:16 mark.
Colgate began to cut into the 17-point deficit with a Polinski field goal at 13:52. The Raiders trimmed Lehigh’s lead to 12 with a Williams jumper at 10:56 to make the score 24-12. Ross drained a three-point shot 20 seconds later to push Lehigh’s lead to 13.
Both teams were held scoreless for nearly two-and-a-half minutes until sophomore Haly Crites hit a lay-up to end the drought at 7:59. The Mountain Hawks would go on to outscore the Raiders 11-6 in the remaining 7:34 to take a 40-18 lead into halftime. It was the fourth time the Mountain Hawks have scored 40 first half point this season and their second against a league opponent.
The Raiders came out strong in the second half, starting with a Polinski three-pointer nine seconds into the half. Over the next three minutes, Colgate held Lehigh to just two points and scored five to make the score 42-26.
Lehigh would hold Colgate scoreless over the next four minutes and added five points to carry a 21-point lead. The Mountain Hawks would lead by as many as 26 points when senior Sara Ellis sank a jumper with 10:16 remaining to give Lehigh a 54-28 advantage. Although the Raiders outscored the Mountain Hawks 22-14 in the last 9:51, they came no closer than 18 points to the Brown in White in that time span.
Blount, Crites, junior Kaela Pearce and freshman Wendy Szczerbiak led the team in rebounds. Pearce also recorded a team-high four steals, which is a new career-high. She and freshman Kristen Dalton each dished off a game-high four assists.
Polinski scored a game-high 17 points. She and Katie Garman each pulled down a game-high eight rebounds.
The Mountain Hawks play their final road game of the regular season on Saturday, heading down the road to
