Lehigh University Athletics
Ballers continue title drives with wins over Lafayette
2/22/2004 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
Bethlehem, PA – Stabler Arena was rocking on Sunday afternoon before the largest crowd to ever watch a Lehigh basketball game at the fan-friendly venue. The 5,206 in attendance loved every minute of it as the Lehigh hoopsters completed a doubleheader sweep over rival Lafayette to keep their Patriot League title hopes alive.
On the men's side, the first game between Lehigh and Lafayette this year was an instant classic. As far as Lehigh fans are concerned, the return game at Stabler on Sunday afternoon was even better. The Mountain Hawks moved into first place all by their lonesome in the Patriot League with a 78-73 victory over
The atmosphere was electric, and much like the first round in
In the second half, Lafayette would surge back ahead, taking their largest lead of the game at 55-49 with 14:12 left to play on a three-pointer by Winston Davis. But Lehigh came right back, getting a three-point play from Kyle Neptune and baskets by Rowland and Kevin Tempest gave Lehigh back the lead 56-55. The lead continued to see saw back and forth, and when
With the game coming down to the wire, Lehigh looked to their team captain for an answer, and Rowland came through, hitting a three pointer with
Kevin Tempest led Lehigh with 13 points on the afternoon, becoming the ninth different player to lead the team in scoring on the year. Rowland had 12 second half points, and also chipped in with 7 assists. Mgebroff finished with 12 points and 7 boards, and Ra Tiah and Kyle Neptune has 11 and 10 points, respectively.
With the win, Lehigh improves to 17-8 (10-2), while
In the earlier game, the Lehigh women buried archrival Lafayette in front of the largest home crowd of the season by a score of 84-55 at Stabler Arena on Sunday afternoon. Sophomore Dawn Gorynski led the way tying a school record with seven shots from beyond the arc en route to a game high 21 points. With the victory Lehigh improves to 11-14 on the season, 8-4 in the Patriot League), and the Mountain Hawks once again find themselves in a four-way tie atop the league standings. The Leopards remain winless at 0-25 on the season and 0-12 in the league.
Lehigh came out firing early in front of 1,944 in attendance, and did not allow the Leopards to seize any momentum. Leading 24-22 at the 9:51 mark, the Mountain Hawks opened things up with a 26-6 run to squelch any hopes of a Leopards upset. Gorynski knocked in six first half three-point baskets and led the Mountain Hawks with 18 points in the first half as the Mountain Hawks grabbed a 50-28 lead going into the locker rooms at halftime. Lehigh shot 43 percent from the field in the first twenty minutes, including 59 percent from beyond the arc.
The second half saw more of the same as Lehigh continued to shoot well from the floor and used suffocating defense to bury the Leopards. The Mountain Hawks shooting jumped up to 50 percent in the second half, and they wound up hitting 46 percent from the field for the game. Three Mountain Hawks joined Gorynski in double figures as sophomore Jenny Callan knocked in 10 points, junior Jessica DePalo tallied 15 and freshman Sara Ellis scored 14 points on four of nine three-point shooting. For the game Lehigh hit 11 three-pointers and held the Leopards to just 39 percent shooting from the field.
Lehigh returns to action on February 27 when the Mountain Hawks travel to
