Lehigh wins hard-fought battle at Fairfield, 73-67

Thursday, November 21

Fairfield, Conn.

7:00:00 PM

Lehigh University

4-1

Fairfield

2-2

Lehigh

Fairfield

Lehigh wins hard-fought battle at Fairfield, 73-67

11/21/2013 9:32:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Lehigh women's basketball was able to walk away with a 73-67 win in a back-and-forth battle at Fairfield on Thursday night. Sophomore Kerry Kinek tossed in 21 points for her fourth 20-plus point game of the season while freshman Lexi Martins made timely shots to lift the Mountain Hawks past the Stags.

"I give our kids a lot of credit, especially against a good Fairfield team," said head coach Sue Troyan. "Fairfield was able to come back in the second half but we never gave up and really battled. We had a lot of great individual performances today and I'm very impressed with the ladies who came off the bench."

The Mountain Hawks have now won back-to-back games for the second time this season, while also claiming their second win on the road and over a MAAC team. Lehigh moves to 4-0 against the Stags all time after the win.

Besides Kinek's game-leading 21 points, she also grabbed a team-leading seven rebounds. Junior Sarah Williams notched 11 points, while Martins added nine. Junior Katie O'Reilly and sophomore Amina Affini each added seven.

The Mountain Hawks finished the game shooting 44.1 (26-of-59) percent from the field and 50.0 percent (6-of12) from three-point range. Lehigh out-rebounded the Stags 43-38.

The Stags got out to a quick 5-0 start thanks to a three-pointer and layup from Alexys Vazquez. Lehigh responded with eight unanswered points to take an 8-5 lead before the teams battled to knot the score at 16. Lehigh trailed Fairfield 21-19, but the Mountain Hawks let loose on a 10-3 run with the help of four points from both Kinek and O'Reilly to take a 29-24 lead to play with less than four minutes to go in the first half. The Stags were able to get six points back, but a buzzer-beating jumper from sophomore Elizabeth Sharlow padded Lehigh's lead heading into halftime, 36-30.

The Mountain Hawks shot 48.4 percent (15-for-31) from the floor during the opening half and 60.0 percent (3-for-5) from beyond the arc. The Lehigh defense forced 11 Fairfield turnovers in the first half and made five steals.

Two Kinek jumpers and two Affini free throws opened up the second half with a 6-0 Lehigh run. A three-pointer from Fairfield's Kristin Schatzlein followed but Kinek was able to draw a foul on the ensuing possession and sink two free throws to put the score at 44-33 Lehigh. The Stags responded with six straight points to close the gap, 44-39. Lehigh sophomore Elizabeth Jordan answered with a three-pointer at 14:27 to sink Lehigh's first points in over three minutes and extend Lehigh's lead to 47-39.

Fairfield eventually fought their way back into the game with the help of six unanswered points from Brittany Obi-Tabot as the Stags trimmed Lehigh's lead to 52-50 with 7:23 on the clock. Two free throws from Samantha Cooper knotted the game at 52 with under seven to play. A Martins jumper sparked a 11-5 Lehigh run that secured a 63-57 Mountain Hawk lead with 4:16 to play.

Two straight Vazquez three-pointers tied the game once again at 63. Martins broke the tie once again, this time with a layup, before a three-pointer from freshman Kayla Burton padded the lead. Fairfield responded right away with four points to pull within two at 69-67 with 56.1 seconds to play. Kinek tossed in a layup on the ensuing Lehigh possession to add some insurance to Lehigh's slim lead as the score stood at 71-67 with 24 seconds to play. After missing their next shot, the Stags only option was to send Lehigh to the free throw line and Burton answered with two for the game's final points.

The Mountain Hawks continue their road slate on Saturday when Lehigh takes of the University of Rhode Island at 4:30 p.m. Lehigh will then head to Columbus, Ohio to face Ohio State in a Thanksgiving Eve tilt.

Like Lehigh women's basketball on Facebook and follow on Twitter for exclusive updates throughout the season.