Friday, November 8
Niagara University, N.Y.
7:00:00 PM
Lehigh University
1-0
93
at
73
Niagara
0-1
1
2
F
Lehigh
47
46
93
Niagara University
35
38
73
Mountain Hawks score most points in over 20 years in 93-73 win at Niagara
11/8/2013 9:48:00 PM | Women's Basketball
NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. – Five Mountain Hawks scored in double figures en route to Lehigh's 93-73 trouncing of Niagara on Friday night at the Gallagher Center. Sophomore Kerry Kinek led the way with 21 points to help Lehigh to its highest scoring game since a 93-78 win over Bucknell on Jan. 13, 1990. The victory over the Purple Eagles was Lehigh's first season opening win since the 2009-10 season.
"It was a great team effort and that's the first time in a long time that we've scored that many points," said head coach Sue Troyan. "The whole point of what we're trying to do is play up-tempo and score early on the shot clock, and I thought we did very well at that today."
Sophomore Amina Affini drained a trey to give Lehigh its first points of the 2013-14 season before adding another one a few minutes later to help the Mountain Hawks off to a 15-9 start. The Purple Eagles responded with a 6-0 run to tie the score at 15. The score was knotted again at 20 before seven straight points from Kinek gave Lehigh a 27-20 lead.
The Mountain Hawks kept rolling to find themselves up by as much as 12 points when the score sat at 37-25. Niagara tallied eight unanswered points to trim Lehigh's lead to 37-33 before the Mountain Hawks responded with ten straight points of their own to go up 47-33. The Purple Eagles knocked in another basket before the buzzer sent the contest into halftime with Lehigh leading 47-35.
Lehigh shot 44 percent from the field in the first half including a 53 percent clip from three-point range. The Mountain Hawk defense limited Niagara to just 32 percent shooting. Freshman Kayla Burton finished the opening half 3-for-4 in three point attempts.
A Kinek jumper put two points on the board for Lehigh to open the second half before the Mountain Hawks used a 20-13 run to take a 67-48 lead. Lehigh extended its lead to 23 after a 13-9 run with the help of some strong free throw shooting. The Mountain Hawks were 25-of-30 (83.3%) from the foul line on Friday.
Niagara eventually battled back to pull within 16 at 86-70 but a 6-3 Lehigh run gave the Mountain Hawks another commanding lead to close out the season-opening win.
Kinek finished the game with 21 points and nine rebounds, just one point shy of her career high. Junior Katie O'Reilly followed with 14, while sophomore Elizabeth Sharlow contributed a career-high 12 points. Burton finished with 11, senior Lindsay Hoskins scored ten and Affini contributed a career-high eight points.
"Kerry was very patient with the basketball," said Troyan. "She didn't force things and she took good shots. She did a great job."
Lehigh finished the game with a 47.6 (30-for-63) field goal percentage and 42.1 (8-for-19)three-point percentage. The Mountain Hawks out rebounded the Purple Eagles 48-40.
The Mountain Hawks will host their home opener on Monday at Stabler Arena when NJIT comes to town for a 7 p.m. tip. The game can be viewed live on the Patriot League Network.
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Team Stats
LEHIGH
NIAW
FG%
.476
.325
3FG%
.421
.323
FT%
.833
.867
RB
48
40
TO
24
20
STL
11
8
Game Leaders
Pts
21
FGM
9
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
14
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
5
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
3
FTM
0
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