Lehigh University Athletics
Individual milestones highlight 2005-06 campaign
4/19/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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The 2005-06 season proved to be frustrating at times for Lehigh, as the Mountain Hawks battled one of the toughest schedules in recent memory and were unable to duplicate the prior year’s success in the win column. Despite the team’s overall struggles at times, there were several individual triumphs and landmarks reached during the course of the season.
For starters, the Lehigh starting five made quite an impact. In fact, Lehigh was one of only six Division I schools to use the same starting lineup over the season’s first 20 games. Senior Jenny Callan, the only senior on the team, entered the season with high expectations, and she did not disappoint. Out from under the shadows of the likes of Anne Tierney ’03 and Jessica DePalo ’05 and into the spotlight for the first time, Callan relished her new starring role.
Callan quickly shouldered much of the scoring load, averaging a team-best 15.4 points per game. She was named to the all-tournament team in both the Mission Management & Trust Fiesta Bowl Classic and the Christmas City Classic. In a win over Colgate in February, she became just the fifth player in the program’s history to score 30 or more points in a game when she dropped 31 in a win over the Raiders. While her per-game scoring average ranked second in the league, it was her rebounding prowess that really gave opponents fits. Callan averaged 10.9 rebounds per game – the tenth-highest total in the country. In a December win over
Callan tallied 17 double-doubles on the season (ten or more points and ten or more rebounds in the same game), just two shy of a school record, en route to earning All-Patriot League first team accolades. Off the court, the psychology and sociology major was named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District II second team for her work in the classroom.
Callan’s work will not be forgotten, as her name will go down in the Lehigh history books. With 615 career rebounds, Callan will depart in sixth place on Lehigh’s all-time list. She also holds the distinction of having the highest career field goal percentage – 51.8% - in school history.
Callan wasn’t the only one counted on to score, however. The Patriot League preseason player of the year, Sara Ellis, continued to make her mark as a sharpshooter beyond the three-point arc. In a late November win over Monmouth, Ellis set a school record by sinking eight three-pointers. A month later, Ellis earned Christmas City Classic all-tournament team accolades. The junior quickly surpassed former teammate Carli Toliver ’04 as Lehigh’s all-time record holder for three-point field goals made. By season’s end, Ellis had connected on 184 career three’s. Her 71 long balls in 2005-06 broke the old school record of 70 – set by Ellis as a sophomore. Along the way, Ellis registered nine games of 20+ points and became the twelfth player in program history to score 1,000 points.
In addition, Ellis carved her name in Patriot League annals by knocking down a league- (and Lehigh-) record 39 consecutive free throws during a stretch that spanned nearly a month from mid-December through mid-January. Ellis connected on 94-of-105 free throws for the year. That 89.5% success rate was ninth-best in the country, and also a Lehigh single season mark.
Junior Adrienne Blount really blossomed this season, the first in which she was truly healthy, and became quite a force on the glass. Blount teamed with Callan to form one of the most potent one-two post threats in the Patriot League this season. Thanks to her efforts, Blount earned all-league second team honors. Blount registered four twenty-plus point games this season, and she led the team in rebounding six times. She compiled two games in which she has connected on ten field goals. Blount stepped up her efforts during Patriot League play, ranking in the top five in the league in both points (15.6) and rebounds (7.7) per game.
How did Lehigh’s big three scorers get the ball? More times than not, the pass came from sophomore point guard Claire Sullivan. One of the smoothest playmakers in the Patriot League, Sullivan led the league and ranked seventh in the nation by dishing out 6.4 assists per game. Her assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.76 was easily the best mark in the league. Sullivan registered seven games with ten or more assists, and became the first Lehigh player to notch a double-double with points and assists – a feat she accomplished in a January win over eventual league champ Army. Sullivan will enter next season needing only three helpers to enter Lehigh’s top ten.
The lone rookie to earn a starting nod at the outset of the season was Tricia Smith. Smith didn’t play like a rookie, having an impact on both ends of the floor from the get-go. Smith averaged well over 20 minutes per game, and was often charged with defending the opposing team’s top scorer. Meanwhile, Smith did quite a bit of scoring of her own. In just her second Patriot League game, Smith hit for a personal best 15 points in a win over Army.
As league play hit the home stretch, the team was still struggling to find wins. After 23 games, head coach Sue Troyan made a change to the starting lineup, inserting junior Emily Geosits into the starting five. Geosits took advantage of the opportunity, matching her career high with 16 points – including four three-pointers – and doling out three assists in a key win over Colgate. In fact, Lehigh won its first three games with the new lineup, and built some much needed momentum heading into the Patriot League tournament.
Unfortunately, Bucknell proved to be too tough a task for the Mountain Hawks, who closed the season with a 10-18 mark after falling to the Bison in the opening round of the tournament at the
Despite the disappointing end to the season, the Mountain Hawks still put together quite a few positives on the court. Lehigh led the Patriot League in several statistical categories, including free throw percentage (72.9%), rebounding (40.8 per game), rebounding defense (34.0 rebounds allowed per game), rebounding margin (+6.8 per game), and assist-to-turnover ratio (0.88).
The Lehigh starters received much of the ink throughout the season, but as is almost always the case, the bench played a pivotal, if underappreciated, role. Sophomore Kaela Pearce led the Lehigh reserves for most of the season in minutes played. Pearce provided a skilled shooting touch and terrific athleticism as a guard off the bench. An 80% free throw shooter, Pearce scored eight points in a game three different times – all on the road. Pearce also dished out four assists in a win over
When Callan and Blount were in foul trouble or simply needed a breather, the Mountain Hawks looked to the triumvirate of Haly Crites, Natalie Green, and Melissa Rich to fill the role. Crites and Rich, both freshmen, and Green, a sophomore, all had chances to shine at various stages of the season. Crites took advantage of her minutes, pulling down three-plus rebounds six times. She corralled a career high five boards in logging significant minutes in a February tilt at Colgate. Green saw time in ten games off the bench, including four Patriot League games. She scored four points and was a perfect four-of-four from the free throw line in the win over rival
Off the court, Lehigh has maintained its tradition of excellence in the classroom. This past fall, nine of the eleven players on the roster registered a grade point average of 3.0 or better. In addition, seven Mountain Hawks qualified for the Dean’s List, with a G.P.A. of 3.5 or better in the fall 2005 semester. After final exams in December, the Lehigh women’s basketball team took time out of its schedule to visit the pediatric center at nearby St. Luke’s Hospital, spreading holiday cheer. While there, team members handed out holiday treats, autographs, basketballs, and smiles to children in a variety of age groups.
With only one departing senior, Lehigh will return ten letter winners to next year’s team. The Mountain Hawks will look back at the 2005-06 season when the Athletics Partnership hosts the Charles ’38 and Helen Marie Zell Women’s Basketball Banquet in the Asa Packer Room of the
