Wednesday, January 29
Lewisburg, Pa.
7:00:00 PM

Lehigh University

9-11, 2-7PL

68
at
82

Bucknell

11-8, 6-3PL

1
2
F
Lehigh
24
44
68
Bucknell
36
46
82

Mountain Hawks fall 82-68 at Bucknell

1/29/2014 9:27:00 PM | Women's Basketball


LEWISBURG, Pa. – Despite four Mountain Hawks scoring in double-figures and a hot-shooting second half, the Lehigh women's basketball team fell 82-68 at Bucknell on Wednesday evening inside Sojka Pavillion. The Mountain Hawks fall to 9-11 overall and 2-7 in the Patriot League, while the Bison improve to 11-8 overall and 6-3 in the league.
 
"There were some good signs on the offensive end and at this point we have to take little steps," said head coach Sue Troyan. "They took better shots and the (shot) blocking was great again today. It's really a matter of bringing all those bright spots together into one solid start-to-finish game at this point."
 
Sophomore Kerry Kinek led the Mountain Hawks with 15 points and eight rebounds. Classmate Elizabeth Sharlow chipped in 14 points off the bench, while juniors Sarah Williams and Katie O'Reilly tallied ten apiece. Williams tallied a season-high eight assists.
 
Bucknell's Shelby Romine tallied a game-high 28 points, including 5-of-8 from downtown. Freshman Claire DeBoer followed with 17 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
 
The Mountain Hawks finished the game shooting 46.2 percent (30-for-65) from the field, highlighted by a 55.9 percent (19-for-34) clip in the second half. The Bison shot 44.8 percent (30-for-67) from the floor, but 50.0 percent (7-for-14) from three-point range, compared to Lehigh's 21.4 percentage (3-for-14). The Bison held a narrow 40-39 rebound advantage. The Mountain Hawks committed 21 turnovers, while forcing 15 from Bucknell. Lehigh tallied a season-high 11 blocks, led by senior Alexandra Yantzi with four
 
The Bison got out to a quick 10-0 lead before a Sharlow layup got the Mountain Hawks on the board just under the 17-minute mark. Bucknell took a 16-5 lead with 15:08 to play, but the Mountain Hawk defense stepped up to hold the Bison scoreless for the next four minutes. During the Bison drought, the Mountain Hawks went on a 7-0 run with the help of five points from freshman Lexi Martins as the score read 16-11 in favor of Bucknell with 11:10 on the clock.
 
Bucknell extended its lead to 12 at 30-18, but a Kinek jumper was followed by two straight from senior Hilary Weaver to pull within six at 30-24 with 3:51 to play. A conventional three-point play by Bucknell's Claire Maree O'Bryan and three free throws put together a 6-0 Bison run that ended the half and sent Lehigh into the locker room trailing 36-24.
 
A flurry of scoring from both teams started the second half, but with just under 16 minutes to play back-to-back three-pointers from O'Reilly and sophomore Amina Affini pulled the Mountain Hawks back within six at 44-38 with 15:39 on the clock.
 
Down by seven less than a minute later, two Williams free throws pulled the Mountain Hawks within five, but it was as close as Lehigh would get for the rest of the contest. The Bison were gradually able to build their lead up to 65-51 under ten minutes to play.
 
Lehigh strung together small runs, but the Bison kept answering with larger streaks to hand the Mountain Hawks their seventh straight road loss.
 
The Mountain Hawks will now return home to face Boston University on Saturday in Lehigh's Play 4Kay game. $1 per fan in attendance will be donated to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund by Lehigh Gas and fans who wear pink will receive free admission. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. in Stabler Arena.
 
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