Wednesday, February 12
6:00:00 PM
Lehigh University
56
vs
69
American
Strong second half gives American 69-56 win over Mountain Hawks
2/12/2014 8:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh women's basketball team's two-game winning streak was snapped Wednesday evening inside Stabler Arena as third-place American used a strong second half to capture a 69-56 win over the Mountain Hawks. Lehigh led 31-26 at halftime, but the Eagles outscored the Mountain Hawks 43-25 in the second half to win their fourth-straight contest. Lehigh falls to 11-12 overall and 4-8 in the Patriot League with the loss, while the Eagles improve to 17-7 and 10-3 in league play.
"It was a well-played game by both teams," said head coach Sue Troyan. "The difference was that American executed in the stretch when they needed to and we let it get away from us. There were a lot of good things to take away from this game though and we'll face a good test at Holy Cross Saturday."
Sophomore Kerry Kinek led Lehigh with 17 points, followed by junior Katie O'Reilly and sophomore Elizabeth Sharlow with nine apiece. Sharlow also pulled down a team-leading eight rebounds, while O'Reilly dished a team-best three assists.
American's Alexis Dobbs and Arron Zimmerman each chipped in 19 for the Eagles, while Shaquilla Curtis followed with 13.
The Mountain Hawks finished the game shooting 42.2 percent (19-for-45) from the field, 33.3 percent (5-for-15) from downtown and 81.3 percent (13-for-16) from the charity stripe. Lehigh made 4-of-8 shots from beyond the arc in the first half, but just 1-of-7 in the closing half. The Eagles shot 35% (21-for-60) from the field and converted 23-of-27 chances from the charity stripe. American sunk four second-half three pointers and shot 40.6 percent (13-for-32) from the field in its strong second half.
American got out to a 4-0 start and held the Mountain Hawks scoreless for the first four and a half minutes of the game until a Sharlow layup finally put the Mountain Hawks on the board. Lehigh eventually was able to knot the score at eight with 13:09 on the clock thanks to three points from Sharlow and a three-pointer from sophomore Elizabeth Jordan.
Thirty seconds later, a three-pointer from Lexi Martins gave Lehigh its first lead of the game, 11-10, before a jumper from junior Sarah Williams added two more Mountain Hawk points. Lehigh got itself into early foul trouble as American was repeatedly sent to the foul line over the next few minutes where the Eagles converted 5-of-6 attempts to tie the game at 16 with 8:11 left in the half.
Four more American free throws eventually gave American a 20-19 lead three minutes later, but the Mountain Hawks answered with a 5-0 run that was capped off with an O'Reilly three-pointer to take a 24-20 advantage with 4:54 to play. The Mountain Hawks had an answer to every American basket for the remainder of the half, as two Jordan free throws closed out the half and gave Lehigh a 31-26 lead heading into the locker room.
Two American free throws were the first tallies of the second half, but Kinek quickly followed with a three-pointer. Lehigh led 36-30, but American scored five straight points to pull within one at 36-35. A pair of free throws from freshman Kayla Burton coupled with a Sharlow layup extended Lehigh's lead once again to 40-35 with 15:17 on the clock.
The Eagles erupted on an 8-0 streak with the final four points of the run coming from the charity stripe as Lehigh once again found itself in early foul trouble. The run gave American a 43-40 lead with 11:12 to play.
Lehigh grabbed back the momentum and responded with a run of its own that was capped off with a Kinek layup which gave the Mountain Hawks back the advantage, 50-49 with 5:54 on the clock. Back-to-back three pointers from Zimmerman and three points from Dobbs built a 9-0 American run that gave the Eagles the lead for good.
The Mountain Hawks will hit the road for back-to-back games away from home. Lehigh takes on Holy Cross at 3 p.m. Saturday and Navy at 7p.m. Wednesday. Both games will be broadcast on the Patriot League Network and fans can listen live on 91.3 WLVR-FM or wlvr.org.
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