Lehigh University
Bucknell
Lehigh keeps on rolling, defeating Bucknell 56-41
2/24/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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LEWISBURG,
‘I thought our defensive effort was tremendous,” head coach Sue Troyan said. “We forced 34 turnovers and we were able to keep them off their game offensively. We did a much better job in the second half and really didn’t allow them any easy looks.”
Troyan continued with her thoughts on Gratch, “Emily is playing tremendous basketball right now. One of our keys was to attack them in the post and she was really effective.”
Three other Mountain Hawks scored at least eight points: juniors Erica Prosser (nine) and Courtney Dentler (eight), while sophomore Alexa Williams also had eight. Lehigh shot a season-best 61 percent in the second half to bring its total for the game to 50 percent. Despite being out-rebounded 29-22, Williams pulled down a game-high nine boards.
The Bison had two players finish in double figures and were led by sophomore Trisha Krewson who finished with 16 points. Junior Cosima Higham contributed 10 points and a team-high six rebounds.
Bucknell jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, but consecutive baskets by Williams and Dentler cut the lead to one. The two teams went back and forth for the rest of the half as both teams struggled to find a rhythm offensively. The Mountain Hawks took their largest lead of the half with 3:52 left when Gratch nailed two from the charity stripe to make the score 19-16. Bucknell responded with back-to-back three-pointers to take a 22-21 lead. After a Dentler jumper, the Bison closed the half with one of their own to take the lead at the break 24-23.
Gratch led Lehigh as she went 5-for-6 from the free throw line and had a total of seven points in the half. Dentler had six points, while Williams dropped in four with a team-high six rebounds. As a team the Mountain Hawks blocked four shots, but struggled shooting the ball going 9-for-23 (39%).
Krewson was a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc to lead all scorers with nine points at the half. Bucknell out-rebounded Lehigh 20-15, but turned the ball over 12 times. The Bison couldn’t find their shooting touch either as they went 9-for-29 from the field (31%).
Both teams started the second half off slow as it took nearly three minutes for one team to finally hit a basket. Prosser ended the scoring draught with a layup to give Lehigh back the lead, 25-24. The Mountain Hawks built off the Prosser layup and scored five more points to take its largest lead of the game 30-24 with 15:51 left.
Lehigh increased its defensive pressure and used it to fuel its offense as it built a 43-32 lead with 7:52 left in the game. The Brown and White kept pouring it on as it grabbed its largest lead of the game 56-39 with 2:22 left and from there, it cruised to the victory.
Lehigh has one final game left before it wraps up the regular season and Troyan knows how important it is.
“We keep saying that we control our own destiny,” Troyan said. “Our goal is to get the No. 1 seed and there is a lot at stake in this last game. It’s a great opportunity to go up there and then go back the following week for the tournament. It’s an ideal closure game.”
The Mountain Hawks will close out the regular season at Holy Cross this Saturday at 1 p.m. in
Lehigh Mountain Hawks Post-Game Extra
