Sunday, November 27
Staten Island, N.Y.
4:00:00 PM
Lehigh University
63
at
44
Wagner
Lehigh defeats Wagner 63-44 Sunday
11/27/2011 10:45:00 PM | Women's Basketball
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – The Lehigh women's basketball team used a team effort to defeat Wagner 63-44 Sunday. Nine different Mountain Hawks scored led by juniors Kelly Peterson and Sarah Pearce whom finished with12 points each while senior Alexa Williams added nine points and 13 rebounds and sophomore Hilary Weaver dished out a career-high nine assists.
“I thought we competed hard and I'm happy with the result,” said head coach Sue Troyan. “We really got a tremendous effort on the defensive end. I thought we did a nice job making things difficult for them and not allowing them to run their offense.”
Lehigh finished the game shooting 32 percent from the field (21-for-65) including 29 percent from three (8-for-28) while holding Wagner to 30 percent from the field (17-for-56) and 23 percent from behind the arc (3-for-13).
The Mountain Hawks forced 25 turnovers using 14 steals, led by four from freshman Katie O'Reilly.
Both teams got off to a slow start as Lehigh led 3-2 with 15:54 to go in the game. Pearce scored the game's first basket en route to an 8-0 run to take a 10-2 lead while Lehigh held Wagner without a basket for almost seven minutes.
Wagner responded with a 7-0 run of its own to cut Lehigh's lead to 10-9 with 8:00 minutes to go in the half.
The Mountain Hawks then went on a 4-0 run to extend its lead to 14-9 with 5:19 left. The teams exchanged baskets until Lehigh went on a 7-2 run to end the half and take a 24-16 lead at the break.
Peterson and junior Becky Guman each had five points at the break and were two of nine Mountain Hawks that contributed points in the first half. Lehigh shot 28 percent from the field and 21 percent from behind the arc while the Mountain Hawks held Wagner to 22 percent and 14 percent from three.
Wagner's 16 first-half points were the lowest by an opponent since Lehigh held Bucknell to 13 points last season.
Lehigh came out of the half on an 8-1 run sparked by five straight points from Pearce as Lehigh led 32-17 with 17:31 left.
Wagner cut the deficit to 13 with 11:50 left but Lehigh continued to push the ball and its advantage as the Mountain Hawks led 48-28 with 8:41 to go.
The Seahawks then went on a quick 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 12 with seven minutes to go, but the run was stopped by a Guman layup to put Lehigh up 50-36 with 6:34 left.
Lehigh's lead would hover between 11 and 14 for a majority of the game's final minutes as the Mountain Hawks had an answer every time Wagner attempted to make a run.
Up 16 with 2:50 go, Williams converted a three-point play to halt any final attempt of a Wagner run as Lehigh cruised to victory.
Freshman Sarah Williams had a career-high nine points on three three's while Guman finished with seven points, eight rebounds and three assists.
Wagner was led by Jacqui Thompson's 12 points.
After three straight games on the road, Lehigh will return to Stabler Arena to host BIG EAST opponent Villanova on Wednesday for Education Day which will have a special start time of 11:30 a.m.
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