Lehigh University
Lafayette
Lehigh wins third-straight over archrival Lafayette
2/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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The Mountain Hawks improve to 21-6 with the win, and move to 10-2 in league play, tying a school record for Patriot League wins set in 2005. The Leopards fall to 8-19 and 2-10 in the Patriot League with the loss.
The win was Lehigh’s first at the
“To win it here was pretty great,” junior guard Kristen Dalton said. “The rivalry is always there and we always get pretty pumped.”
Emily Gratch enjoyed the best game of her Lehigh career on Saturday, putting up career highs with 15 points and nine rebounds. The freshman forward also played a career high 20 minutes off the bench as she created matchup problems for the Leopards.
“We knew she was very capable of having days like this,” Lehigh head coach Sue Troyan said. “She scored more than 1,600 points in high school, so we knew she’s the type of kid that can put up numbers. She’s been real patient with her opportunities and she just keeps getting better and better as the season goes on.”
Alex Ross led all Lehigh scorers with 16 points, including four 3-pointers. Erica Prosser continued her Patriot League success by putting up 15 points, and Kristen Dalton contributed with 10 points in her fourth start of the season.
Jessica Spicer led all scorers with 18 points for
Lehigh used a 12-2 run at the beginning of the second half to turn a nine-point lead into a 19-point lead in less than four minutes. The Mountain Hawks went on the aggressive from the outset of the period, and benefitted from 18 free throw attempts in the second. Of the Mountain Hawks’ 39 second-half points, 15 came from the charity stripe.
Alex Ross erased all the Lehigh fears in the first possession after the timeout, drilling a 3-pointer that bumped the lead back up to 14 points and essentially ended the game with just more than three minutes remaining.
“I thought the defensive effort was real strong today,” Troyan said. “We knew
Lehigh buried five 3-pointers in the first half to help it jump out to a nine-point lead at the break.
Gratch tied her career high with eight points in the first half alone, and broke her career high with five rebounds in the half.
Lehigh controlled the rebounding battle in the first, grabbing 23 boards and allowing
The Mountain Hawks defense bore down late in the first, holding
Lehigh returns to action on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. when the Mountain Hawks host the Bucknell Bison at Stabler Arena.
Buzzer beaters: With the win, Lehigh has now won the last eight meetings with
