Wednesday, December 31
Hamilton, N.Y.
2 p.m.
Lehigh University
9-2 (1-0PL)
86
at
68
Colgate
1-11 (0-1PL)
1
2
F
Lehigh
47
39
86
Colgate
34
34
68
Lehigh cruises to 86-68 league-opening victory at Colgate
12/31/2014 4:08:00 PM | Women's Basketball
HAMILTON, N.Y. – Five Mountain Hawks scored in double-figures as the Lehigh women's basketball team turned out a season-high 86 points to down Colgate 86-68 Wednesday afternoon at Cotterell Court in the first game of Patriot League play. The victory secured Lehigh's fourth straight league-opening win as the Mountain Hawks improve to 9-2 overall, 1-0 in the Patriot League and 6-1 on the road. Colgate falls to 1-10 overall and 0-1 in league play with the loss.
"We got off to a bit of a slow start, but once we established our offense we played very well," said head coach Sue Troyan. "They shared the ball well and took good shots. I'm proud of the fact that there were five players in double-figures because today was a great team effort."
Sophomore Lexi Martins led the way with her eighth double-double of the season with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Senior Katie O'Reilly followed with 12 points and a season-best eight rebounds while junior Kerry Kinek also finished with 12 points, ten of which came in the second half. Sophomore Kiernan McCloskey chipped in a season-high ten points in addition to junior Elizabeth Sharlow's ten tallies. Junior Amina Affini tallied a season-high nine points to go along with three boards and two assists. Senior Sarah Williams led the team with four assists.
The Mountain Hawks shot 50.7 (34-for-67) percent from the field, 36.8 percent (7-for-19) from three-point range and 73.3 percent (11-for-15) from the charity stripe. Lehigh held Colgate to a 38.2 percent (26-for-68) clip from the floor and 20 percent (3-for-15) mark from downtown. The Mountain Hawks won the battle of the boards 45-34.
Colgate scored the first six points of the contest and held Lehigh scoreless for the opening three and a half minutes until a three-pointer from Affini put Lehigh on the board with 16:37 on the first-half clock. Sophomore Kayla Burton drained a three two minutes later to even the score at six.
The score was knotted again at nine and 11 before a jumper from freshman Quinci Mann sparked a 13-4 run that wound the clock down to 9:13 and gave Lehigh a 24-15 advantage. The streak saw six points from Martins and five from Mann.
A three-pointer from Paige Kriftcher pulled the Raiders within seven at 28-21, but Lehigh was able to re-extend its lead to 12 following a Martins jumper with 4:44 remaining on the first-half clock. The Mountain Hawks continued to cruise, making five of their final six attempts, en route to a 47-34 halftime lead as Lehigh recorded its highest-scoring first half of the season.
A Martins layup opened the second-half scoring, but Colgate was able to pull within 10 with just over 17 minutes to play following a 7-2 run to put the score at 51-41. A pair of three-pointers from Kinek helped Lehigh string together an 11-6 run to put the Mountain Hawks back up by 15 at 62-47 with just over 14 minutes to play.
Lehigh extended its lead to 19 at 70-51 with the help of four points from Sharlow as the clock read 11:01. The Mountain Hawks never looked back from there, extending the lead to as much as 25 with 4:58 on the clock. Colgate put together a small late run, but Lehigh was able to come away with the 86-68 league-opening victory.
The Mountain Hawks return home Saturday to host Boston University at 2 p.m. before welcoming Army at 7 p.m. Wednesday Jan. 7. Both contests can be viewed locally on Service Electric 2 Sports and for free online via the Patriot League Network.
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Team Stats
LEHIGH
COLGATE
FG%
.507
.382
3FG%
.368
.200
FT%
.733
.650
RB
45
34
TO
17
13
STL
7
10
Game Leaders
Pts
16
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
12
FGM
5
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG/F
/ Women's BasketballG/F
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
G
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