Holy Cross pulls away for 76-68 win over Lehigh

Saturday, February 15

Worcester, Mass.

3:00:00 PM

Lehigh University

11-13, 4-9PL

Holy Cross

16-9, 8-6PL

Lehigh

Holy Cross

Holy Cross pulls away for 76-68 win over Lehigh

2/15/2014 5:21:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

WORCESTER, Mass. – For the second straight game, a strong second half from its opponent hurt the Lehigh women's basketball team as the Mountain Hawks fell 76-68 inside Holy Cross' Hart Center Saturday afternoon. It was a one-point game at halftime, but the Crusaders shot 68 percent (17-for-25) from the field in the second-half to push past Lehigh. With the loss, the Mountain Hawks fall to 11-13 overall and 4-9 in league play, while the Crusaders improve to 16-9 and 8-6 in the Patriot League.

"I thought today's first half was one of the best we've played all year," said head coach Sue Troyan. "We executed very well, but Holy Cross executed even better in the second half. There were some bright spots as well, but plenty of things to work on."

Sophomore Elizabeth Sharlow led Lehigh with a career-high tying 15 points and nine rebounds. Classmate Kerry Kinek followed with 13 tallies and eight boards, while juniors Sarah Williams (11) and Katie O'Reilly (10) also finished in double figures.

Raquel Scott led four Crusaders in double digits with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Brisje Malone followed with 16 points.

Lehigh finished the game shooting 37.1 percent (26-for-70) from the field and 46.2 percent (6-for-13) from three-point range. Holy Cross finished 51.8 percent (29-for-56) from the field and 27.3 percent (3-for-11) from downtown. The teams both finished with 39 rebounds, while Holy Cross recorded ten blocks compared to Lehigh's two.

Holy Cross started the game on a 5-0 run and held the Mountain Hawks scoreless for the first three and a half minutes until a layup from senior Lindsay Hoskins put Lehigh on the board. Lehigh battled back to take a 9-7 lead with the help of five straight points from Sharlow with under 14 minutes to play.

Lehigh held a 13-12 lead at the under-12 media timeout, but the Crusaders answered with baskets from Scott and Emily Parker to surge ahead 16-13 with less than ten minutes on the clock. Four points from both O'Reilly and Williams put together an 8-2 Lehigh run, but Holy Cross responded with five straight to take a 23-21 lead with 3:56 on the clock.

The Crusaders extended their lead to 27-23 as the clock wound down before a three-pointer from freshman Lexi Martins narrowed it to one. Holy Cross' Smith answered with a long jumper, but Martins drew a foul on the ensuing Lehigh possession and converted her two chances from the charity stripe. Holy Cross got the ball back with seven seconds left in the half, but Martins snatched it away and heaved a half-court shot that fell just short as the buzzer rang and the Mountain Hawks headed into the locker room down 29-28.

Smith immediately extended Holy Cross' lead with a three-pointer out of the break, but a Kinek layup and three-pointer from freshman Kayla Burton gave Lehigh a 33-32 lead. The Crusaders used a fast-break layup from Scott immediately snatched the lead back with under 17 minutes to play. Following a layup from sophomore Amina Affini, Holy Cross used five unanswered points to take its largest lead since the beginning of the game, 40-35, with 14:59 to play.

A jumper from Williams and another three-pointer from Martins pulled Lehigh back within one at 43-42 with just over 13 minutes to play, but Holy Cross scored the next five points , four of which came from Malone's free throw shooting, to take a 46-42 lead with just over 12 minutes on the clock.

After a trey from Williams, Holy Cross erupted on a 12-4 run to take a 58-49 lead with under seven minutes to play. A three-pointer from sophomore Elizabeth Jordan gave Lehigh a bit of momentum, but the Crusaders immediately tossed in a layup to thwart Lehigh's small run and put the Mountain Hawks away for good. The Crusaders held onto a double-digit lead for the majority of the rest of the game, with the exception of the final 26 seconds.

Lehigh remains on the road, traveling to first-place Navy Wednesday at 7 p.m. before returning home to host rival Lafayette Saturday at 7:30 p.m. on Senior Night. Both games can be viewed for free on the Patriot League Network.

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