Lehigh University Athletics
Shots drop from all over as Mountain Hawks sweep Navy
1/10/2004 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
Bethlehem, PA – The Mountain Hawk basketall teams had two things in common Saturday at Stabler Arena. Each team shot the ball extremely well, and each team used their hot hands to sweep a doubleheader with Navy in the Patriot League openers for both teams. The men made a season-high twelve three-pointers on their way to a dominating 80-61 victory, while the women shot 60.4% from the field to cruise to a 71-61 win. Austen Rowland and Jessica DePalo each had career highs in leading the teams to their first Patriot League wins.
The men got the Patriot League season started the right way, dominating Navy from the get-go for an 80-61 victory. Lehigh (8-6, 1-0) was hot offensively the whole night, shooting above 50 percent from the field and hitting a season-high 12 three-pointers. The Mountain Hawks swept the Midshipmen in front of a rowdy crowd of 1825, as the women’s team won 71-61 in the earlier game.
Austen Rowland had a career night for the Mountain Hawks, draining a season-high six threes in his way to a team-leading 24 points. Rowland’s previous high was 23 in Lehigh’s victory over Wagner January 2nd.
After the game was tied 7-7 early on, Lehigh went on a 12-0 run in just
Navy would play much better in the second half, cutting the lead back to 58-43 with 13 minutes left. But again the Mountain Hawks would take off, making 7-14 threes to finish off the Midshipmen.
Head coach Billy Taylor was happy with the team’s effort in its first league win on the season. “We wanted to set the tone on defense from the opening tip,” said
Freshman Jose Olivero had 17 points, playing the game in front of his father, Colonel Jose Olivero, who before the game presented the team with an American flag that flew over his Army base while recently stationed in
The non-league schedule may have been tough on the Mountain Hawk women, but they used their best shooting effort of the season to defeat Navy 71-61. Jessica DePalo posted a career-high for the second time in four games, finishing the night with 25 points to lead Lehigh to their first conference win on the season.
In the first half, the Mountain Hawks took advantage of cold shooting by the Midshipmen to gain a five point lead at the break, 28-23. Lehigh held Navy to 8-29 (27.6%) from the field in the first half, and DePalo paced the team with eight first-half points to give the Mountain Hawks the advantage.
In the second half though, Lehigh began to drain nearly every shot they took, making an outstanding 15-of-21 shots (71.4%) to draw out the lead. A lay-up by Kate Maslowksi cut the lead to 43-39 at the
“We shot the ball well,” said head coach Sue Troyan. “We attacked inside, and it really opened up looks from the outside. This was a really good time for our offense to come around, and I thought we played tough defense as well.”
DePalo, who’s previous career high of 24 came against Mount St. Mary’s on December 31 in the Christmas City Classic, shot 10-15 from the field and finished one rebound shy of a double-double. “We take pride in what we are doing,” said DePalo. “and tonight the shots just finally started to fall for us.”
Freshman Sara Ellis hit double figures for the first time in her Mountain Hawk career, hitting three three-pointers on her way to a career-high 13 points. Jana Ransom also chipped in with 14 points, helping the team to shoot a season-high 60.4% from the field. For Navy, Courtney Davidson led the way with 21 points in the losing effort. Lehigh improves to 4-9 on the season (1-0 Patriot League), while Navy falls to 6-9 (0-1).
Lehigh will return to the court on Wednesday, as they welcome Bucknell into Stabler Arena. The women’s game is set for
