Thursday, March 6
Annapolis, Md.
7:00 PM
Lehigh University
13-18
54
at
84
Navy
24-6
1
2
F
Lehigh
23
31
54
Navy
44
40
84
Mountain Hawks fall in quarterfinals at three-time defending champion Navy
3/6/2014 9:58:00 PM | Women's Basketball
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Lehigh women's basketball season came to an end Thursday night in Alumni Hall as the Mountain Hawks suffered an 84-54 loss to top-seeded Navy in the Patriot League Quarterfinals. The Mids shot an impressive 51.7 percent (31-for-60) from the field and a blistering 60 percent (12-for-20) from downtown to remain in the hunt for their fourth-straight league title.
"Navy is a great team and it always seems to bring its best against us," said Lehigh head coach Sue Troyan. "They have so many weapons and you really have to pick your poison. It's a disappointing way for our season to end, but Navy played a tremendous game tonight."
Junior Katie O'Reilly scored a team-high ten points to lead the Mountain Hawks, followed by freshman Lexi Martins with nine. Sophomore Elizabeth Sharlow pulled down a team-best eight rebounds. With the loss, the careers of Lehigh seniors Hilary Weaver, Lindsay Hoskins and Alexandra Yantzi came to an end.
"Hilary, X and Lindsay are great people from great families who have done great things for our program," said Troyan. "They will be dearly missed and I know they will move on to do big things in the future."
Lehigh was limited to just 34.5 percent (20-for-58) from the floor and shot 2-for-14 from three-point range. The Mountain Hawks held a 37-35 rebound advantage, but turned the ball over 18 times compared to Navy's nine.
Four Mids scored in double-digits, led by senior Kara Pollinger with 17 points.
The teams began the game a combined 0-for-8 from the floor until a jumper from Navy's Chloe Stapleton opened the scoring. Back-to-back buckets from O'Reilly and freshman Kiernan McCloskey gave the Mountain Hawks a 4-2 lead with 16:18 to play. It would be Lehigh's only lead of the game as the Mids' Jade Geif tossed in a pair of free throws that were followed by a layup from Alix Membreno to jump ahead 8-4.
Lehigh was down by two with 14:13 to play, but Navy pulled away with a pair of three-pointers and eventually took a 21-11 lead. Seven-straight points from sophomore Kerry Kinek closed the gap to six with 6:11 left in the half, but Navy closed the half on a 21-6 run to take a 44-23 lead into the locker room.
A pair of three-pointers from Navy's Audrey Bauer helped the Mids extend their lead even further as the second half began. The hot-shooting Mids had an answer to every Lehigh basket as the largest run the Mountain Hawks were able to put together was a 6-2 streak behind six points from Martins. Navy never let up as it cruised to a semifinal berth.
"We'll work on becoming more consistent over the offseason," said Troyan. "Hopefully some of our younger kids gained experience from this season and we'll be able to build upon that. This is a season that we'll definitely be able to grow and learn from."
Lehigh's season comes to an end at 13-18.
Team Stats
LEHIGH
NAVY
FG%
.345
.517
3FG%
.143
.600
FT%
.857
.714
RB
37
35
TO
18
9
STL
3
9
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Pts
7
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
6
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
2
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