Lehigh University
American
Lehigh knocks off American, 53-46
2/6/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh women’s basketball team moved into a first place tie with the American Eagles with a 53-46 win Saturday night at Stabler Arena. The Mountain Hawks were led by a balanced offensive attack and another strong defensive effort as they held the Patriot League’s leading scorer Michelle Kirk to only six points. Lehigh has now won 30 straight home games and improves to 20-3 (7-1) overall. American suffers its first lost in Patriot League play and drops to 14-8 (7-1) on the season.
“It was a great defensive effort by both teams tonight,” head coach Sue Troyan said. “We did a much better job of controlling Kirk tonight and Tricia (Smith) was tremendous on her. It was really a great team effort tonight.”
Smith commented on the strong defensive effort, “We really wanted to focus on our defense this game and we did a good job of taking Kirk out of it. I thought as a team we played tough defensively and I just tried to face guard Kirk for the entire game. Our goal was to not let her catch the ball and take her out early.”
With the scored tied at 31 early in the second half Lehigh finally got into a rhythm offensively and rattled off eight straight points. The Mountain Hawks held their biggest lead of the game (11) with 10:27 left, but it would be a fight until the end as American wouldn’t go away easily. The Eagles were able to pull within three with just under four minutes left in the game. Lehigh kept up its defensive effort and was able to hold off American with four free throws at the end.
Emily Gratch (12), Courtney Dentler (11) and Erica Prosser (10) all scored in double figures for the Mountain Hawks. Besides her strong defensive effort on Kirk, Smith was also able to contribute six points and seven rebounds. Lehigh finished the game shooting 33 percent, but still struggled on three-pointers only going 3-for-13. After two games without any three-pointers Alex Ross was able to break out of her slump and hit two.
Liz Leer led American with 13 points, five rebounds and five blocks. The Eagles edged Lehigh on the boards 41-36 and they swatted eight shots. American also struggled from beyond the arc as it went 4-for-22.
Both teams started the game struggling on the offensive end. Lehigh had an 8-5 lead, but a 10-0 American run put them ahead 15-8. Despite a poor shooting effort, the Mountain Hawks were able to stay in the game and fight their way back. Down 18-10, Lehigh used an 11-0 run to regain the lead 21-18. An Alex Ross’ three-pointer put the Brown and White ahead 19-18 and then a layup by Prosser brought it to 21-18. A three-pointer by Raven Harris with 27 seconds left tied the score at 25 heading into the half.
The Mountain Hawks finished the half shooting 31 percent, but their struggles from beyond the arc continued as they went 1-for-7. Prosser led the way with six points and four players finished with four.
American was led by Leer who dropped in eight points and had two blocks. The Eagles out-rebounded Lehigh, but turned the ball over 11 times.
The Mountain Hawks know even more pressure will be on them now that they are tied for first place.
“Tonight was a big game and it looks like it’s going to be a two team race for first and second in the league. We’re both in the driver’s seat now and there will be added pressure every game for the rest of the season.”
Lehigh will hit the road for consecutive games beginning with Navy Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. from Annapolis, Md. You can hear all the action live on WLVR-FM (91.3) and Lehighsports.com with Jeff Tourial on the broadcast.
Lehigh - American Post-Game Show
Video Courtesy of Service Electric 2 Sports
