Lehigh University
St. Francis (Pa.)
Lehigh holds off St. Francis (Pa.) to win 75-63
11/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – After a little bit of a scare to start the second half the Lehigh women’s basketball team was able to settle down and defeat St. Francis (Pa.) 75-63 Friday night at Stabler Arena. The Mountain Hawks went into halftime with a 15 point lead, but the Red Flash were able to cut it to seven early in the second half. Junior Erica Prosser, with a game-high 24 points, helped Lehigh respond to improve to 3-1 on the season.
“St. Francis is a scrappy team and they played hard,” head coach Sue Troyan said. “When we controlled the ball we did well, but overall I wasn’t happy with the performance. We need to be less sloppy and avoid turning the ball over so much.”
Lehigh finished the game shooting 43 percent which included shooting 38.5 percent from beyond the arc. Senior Alex Ross was the Mountain Hawks second leading scorer as she finished with 14 points and hit two three-pointers. Junior Courtney Dentler came off the bench for Lehigh and just missed her first career double-double as she finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.
“We have a great post rotation this season,” Dentler said. “Everyone is playing hard and really contributing. We just have to keep playing hard and don’t take our minutes for granted.”
Troyan commented on Courtney and the depth off the bench, “Courtney played great off the bench for us tonight. We have a lot of depth coming off the bench and it is a real positive moving forward.”
Senior Britney Hodges led St. Francis with 14 points and Senior Allison Daly was the only other member of the Red Flash to finish in double-figures with 10. With the loss, St. Francis falls to 0-3 on the season.
The Mountain Hawks went on an 11-0 run to start the game and they were able to hold the Red Flash scoreless for the first 4:33 of the game. Lehigh kept pouring it on and at one point had a 36-15 lead, but St. Francis would answer late in the half. The Red Flash went on an 8-0 run in the last 1:45 of the half to cut the lead to 43-28.
Four different Mountain Hawks scored at least seven points in the first half as Prosser led the way with nine. Senior Tricia Smith who had four rebounds in the first half picked up career rebound number 500 on her third one of the game. Smith finished the game with seven rebounds and seven points, along with six assists.
Lehigh finished the first half shooting 50 percent from the floor and it was able to hold the Red Flash to 35 percent. St. Francis was led by Britney Hodges who had nine points and Kelsey Caruthers off the bench with six.
St. Francis picked right up where it left off in the first half scoring the first eight points of the second half to cut the Lehigh lead to 43-36. The Mountain Hawks were able to calm down and take back control of the game. The Brown and White built a 75-55 lead with under a 1:30 left in the game and it was able to hold on for the victory. The Red Flash closed the game out by scoring eight points to bring them within twelve.
The Mountain Hawks will have a few days before their next game to work on getting better at some of the things that have plagued them early on this season.
“We have to focus over the next few days,” Troyan said. “We have a few days to focus on just Lehigh and do the little things to get ourselves better.”
Lehigh will head to Vestal, N.Y. on Tuesday to take on the Binghamton Bearcats at 7 p.m. Jeff Tourial will broadcast the game on WLVR-FM (91.3) and Lehighsports.com.
Lehigh - St. Francis PA Post-Game Extra
