Lehigh University
Colgate
Mountain Hawks edge Colgate 57-45
1/20/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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HAMILTON, N.Y. – Despite an off-shooting night, Lehigh picked up a hard earned 57-45 win over the Colgate Raiders Wednesday evening from Cotterell Court. The Mountain Hawks finished the game shooting 35 percent from the field and tied a season-low by only hitting two three-pointers. With the victory Lehigh improves to 16-3 overall and 3-1 in league play. Colgate falls to 6-12 overall and 1-3 against the league.
“It’s good to get out of here with a win,” head coach Sue Troyan said. “We didn’t play our best in the first half and we fought through the second. Our biggest adjustment at the half was just to come out and play harder. I thought we executed better, but we still struggled to make shots and finish.”
After a lack luster first half, the Mountain Hawks came out much stronger in the second half and extended their lead to six. The two teams battled it out for a majority of the second half and with a little over five minutes left Colgate was able to pull within two to bring the score to 44-42. Lehigh was finally able to take over the game however, as it built a 10-point lead with two minutes left. The Mountain Hawks iced the game by scoring their final six points at the free throw line.
Troyan commented on the teams shooting struggles, “I was most frustrated in the first half because we weren’t going through things at a pace that allowed us to make shots. We were going through things half speed on both ends of the floor and we knew we needed to pick it up. When you’re not shooting well you have to crash the boards and give yourself better opportunities and I thought we did that in the second half.”
The Mountain Hawks were able to win the battle of the boards and out-rebound Colgate 47-37 for the game. Senior Tricia collected a game-high nine rebounds and also added four points. Three Lehigh players finished in double figures: junior Courtney Dentler (12), sophomore Emily Gratch (11) and junior Erica Prosser with 10.
The Raiders were led by freshman guard Jhazmine Lynch who finished with a team-high 11 points and eight rebounds. Colgate’s leading scorers this season, junior Sami Kozlowski (7) and sophomore Tricia Oakes (8) were each held below their season averages.
Lehigh and Colgate started off the game trading baskets until the Raiders finally pulled ahead 14-7. The Mountain Hawks pulled to within one, but Colgate was able to once again take charge and build a 21-13 lead. The Brown and White ended the half on a 10-1 run though, and took a 23-22 lead into the locker room.
The Mountain Hawks were led by Dentler who had a team-high seven points and pulled down four rebounds. Lehigh struggled shooting the ball in the half only hitting on 28 percent of its shots, which included shooting 18 percent from three-point land. The Mountain Hawks narrowly held the rebound edge 22-20.
Colgate was led by junior Taylor Wejnert who grabbed three rebounds, while also contributing six points. The Raiders hit on 31 percent of their shots in the half and connected on three shots from beyond the arc.
With league play only being four games into the schedule no team has really separated itself yet.
“Looking at the league it can really be anybodys,” Troyan said. “Talking to some of the other coaches there is a lot of parody throughout and several of the teams are trying to separate themselves.”
The Mountain Hawks will stay on the road as they travel across town to do battle with their archrival Lafayette Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in Easton. The game will be televised live on RCN4 with Gary Laubach, John Leone and Dan Mowdy calling the action. Fans can listen to the game on ESPN Radio 1230 and 1320, as well as Lehighsports.com with Jeff Tourial on the call.
Inside photo provided by Bob Cornell
Lehigh - Colgate Post-Game Extra
