Sunday, December 30
Stabler Arena
4:30:00 PM
Lehigh University
44
vs
72
Boston University
Lehigh drops to Boston University, 72-44, in Classic finale
12/30/2012 10:35:00 PM | Women's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Despite 11 points and eight rebounds from junior forward Lindsay Hoskins, the Lehigh women's basketball team fell to Boston University, 72-44, in the final game of the 16th annual Christmas City Classic. The Mountain Hawks rallied several times on the evening, but 12 three-pointers from the Terriers helped Boston U to its 10th win of the season.
"They're a quality program and an experience team and they took advantage of our youth and inexperience at times," said Lehigh head coach Sue Troyan. "They took us out of what we wanted to do on the offensive end with our defense and offensively had a lot of different weapons."
The Terriers started the game with a trap defense and a face-paced offense that netted them nine early points, but the Mountain Hawks battled back as Hoskins scored five straight points via a three-pointer and a layup off a dish from senior Marybeth Egan to cut the BU lead to just four in the early going.
The Terriers started the game with a trap defense and a face-paced offense that netted them nine early points, but the Mountain Hawks battled back as Hoskins scored five straight points via a three-pointer and a layup off a dish from senior Marybeth Egan to cut the BU lead to just four in the early going.
Boston University kept with its momentum, rattling off an 8-0 run to take a 17-5 lead, but as the Mountain Hawks tried to rally several times, Boston U guard Mo Moran consistently knocked down treys, connecting on her first three attempts, to keep Lehigh at bay.
The Terriers answered every Mountain Hawk push during the first 20 minutes including after senior Becky Guman complete a hoop and harm, Boston U drilled a trey to push the score back to a 13-point lead at 27-14 with 3:57 remaining in the first half.
After five straight Mountain Hawk points by junior Hilary Weaver late in the half including a three from the right wing, the Terrier lead was cut back down to 30-21. With time winding down and the clock under 40 seconds to play in the half, the last of six first half three-pointers by Boston U banked in and led to a 33-21 halftime deficit for Lehigh.
Hoskins was Lehigh's leading scorer at the break with seven points on 3-of-4 shooting from the field, while Guman added five first half points and five rebounds. The Mountain Hawk offense shot 24.1 percent (7-of-29) from the field and 18.2 percent from long range. The Terriers outscored Lehigh 12-5 off of turnovers and 10-8 in the paint over the first 20 minutes as the pressure defense Boston U showcased aided in the 12-point halftime lead. The Terriers shot 35.3 percent from beyond the arc with six three-pointers, 39.4 percent from the field and converted on their only foul shot.
The Terriers again started the second half with a strong defense that caused multiple Lehigh turnovers and led to a 43-23 lead after starting the half on a 10-2 run just over three minutes in. The Mountain Hawks connected on four consecutive free throws later in the half to pull within 16 at 45-29, but their small run was answered by the size and sharp shooting of the Terriers as the score reached 54-35 with 10:18 on the clock.
"They're a team that goes on runs and also a team that responds to runs," said Troyan. "Anytime we tried to claw back into it they always had an answer and it was usually a different player. That's the sign of a quality program."
From that point, an 8-2 run over a three-minute span set the Mountain Hawks behind 62-37 at the under six minute media timeout. Out of the break, the Terriers hit their 10th and 11th treys of the game as the lead extended to 31 with just over four minutes to play.
Boston University coasted to the 72-44 victory over the final four minutes despite a 5-4 run by the Mountain Hawks to win its 10th game of the season and seventh straight. Lehigh fell to 5-7 on the season and will play at Mount Saint Mary's on Wednesday, January 2 to start 2013.
Lehigh shot 28.1 percent from the field over the final 20 minutes and 26.2 for the game. The Mountain Hawks turned the ball over just 14 times, but those turnovers led to 21 Terrier points as opposed to the nine points off of nine BU turnovers for Lehi
gh.
gh. After Hoskins, Weaver and Guman were next on the scoring list with nine points apiece, while O'Reilly chipped in seven points and seven boards for the game. Lehigh outscored Boston U 16-10 in the paint in the second half, 9-7 on second chance points for the game and held a 43-37 edge in the rebounding facet, but lost the bench battle 14-7.
After Wednesday's tilt with Mount Saint Mary's, Lehigh will continue on the road at NJIT on Saturday, January 5 at 2 p.m. before returning home to the friendly confines of Stabler Arena on January 7 for the team's annual Education Day game against Columbia at 11:30 a.m.
The All-Tournament Team was announced following the conclusion of the game and included Lehigh senior co-captain Becky Guman after her career-high 18 points against Binghamton on Saturday.
16th annual Christmas City Classic All-Tournament Team
Sherae Swinson (Binghamton)
Danielle Pankley (Fairleigh Dickinson)
Rashidat Agboola (Boston University)
Mo Moran (Boston University)
Becky Guman (Lehigh)
Tournament MVP
Mo Moran (Boston University)
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