Loyola comes back for 70-64 win over Lehigh

Saturday, January 11

2:00:00 PM

Lehigh University

8-7, 1-3PL

Loyola

4-11, 1-3PL

Loyola

Lehigh

1/11/2014 4:37:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh women's basketball team couldn't hold on to its second-half lead as Loyola used a late 10-0 run to claim a 70-64 win Saturday afternoon at Stabler Arena. The victory gave the Greyhounds (4-11, 1-3 PL) their first league win, while the Mountain Hawks (8-7, 1-3 PL) suffered their third straight league loss.

"I'm disappointed with the loss, but give Loyola a lot of credit," said head coach Sue Troyan. "They had a lot of fight in them when they needed it the most and we couldn't step up when we needed to."

Sophomore Elizabeth Sharlow led the Mountain Hawks with 13 points, followed by classmate Kerry Kinek with 12 and a team-leading seven rebounds. Junior Katie O'Reilly finished with 11 points, which included seven tallies from the free throw line. O'Reilly also dished a team-leading five assists.

Loyola's Nai Brown led all players with 25 points, while Nicole Krusen chipped in 15 one five three-pointers, including the go-ahead three-pointer with 1:12 to play.

Lehigh finished the game shooting 38.9 percent (21-for-54) from the floor and 28.6 percent (4-for-14) from three-point range. The Greyhounds shot 48.0 percent (24-for-50) from the field and 47.1 percent (8-of-17) from long distance, highlighted by a 58.3 percent (7-for-12) clip from downtown in the second half. Loyola held a slim 33-31 rebound advantage, but the Mountain Hawks forced 26 Greyhound turnovers.

Two Lehigh three-pointers got the Mountain Hawks off a quick 6-0 start, but Loyola answered with 14-0 run and held Lehigh scoreless for over 5 minutes. Lehigh responded with eight unanswered points from four different players to pull within one at 14-13 with 9:25 left in the half.

Loyola was eventually able to extend its lead to 26-17 with 5:15 on the clock, before an 8-0 run that started with a Kinek layup and finished with a Kinek jumper pulled the Mountain Hawks within one. Lehigh trailed 29-27 after a free throw from Lisa Mirarchi, but Sharlow was able to convert a crisp pass from O'Reilly into a late layup to tie the game at 29 headed into the locker room.

Loyola finished the first half shooting 47.8 percent (11-for-23) from the floor, but just 20.0 percent (1-for-5) from three-point range. Lehigh shot 37.9 percent (11-for-29) during the opening term.

The Mountain Hawks began the second half on an 8-0 run until the Greyhounds hit their first shot of the term with 17:11 to play. Lehigh held onto the lead for the next seven minutes as the score read 53-46 with 9:49 on the clock.

The Greyhounds hit two straight three-pointers, one from Krusen and one from Nneka Offodile, to pull within two before a Sharlow layup extended the lead to four. Lehigh clung to a 61-58 lead with 2:22 to play, but the Greyhounds erupted with ten unanswered points to grab a 68-61 lead with just 18 seconds on the clock. A Brown jumper started the run and then back-to-back three-pointers from Krusen and Tiffany Padgett gave the visitors a 66-61 lead with just 32 seconds remaining.

Next up for the Mountain Hawks is a trip to Washington, D.C. on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. contest at American. The game can be viewed for free on the Patriot League Network an fans can listen live on 91.3 WLVR or wlvr.org.

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