Wednesday, January 14
7 p.m.
Lehigh University
11-4, 3-2PL
73
vs
75
American
10-6, 5-0PL
1
2
OT 1
F
American
26
41
8
75
Lehigh
31
36
6
73
Lehigh drops 75-73 overtime heartbreaker to undefeated American
1/14/2015 9:29:00 PM | Women's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lehigh women's basketball team came out on the short end of an overtime thriller against first-place American Wednesday night at Stabler Arena as the Eagles captured a 75-73 victory over the Mountain Hawks. The Mountain Hawks fall to 11-4 overall and 3-2 in the Patriot League while the Eagles move to 5-0 in league play and 10-6 overall.
"I thought it was a well-played game on both sides," said head coach Sue Troyan. "It was really fun game to be in at the moment, but obviously disappointing to come out with a loss. It's a game we'll look back on and see that we could have executed better down the stretch. I'm very proud of how are kids played today, though."
Senior Katie O'Reilly scored a team-best 19 points to go along with six rebounds and four assists. Junior Kerry Kinek recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Senior Sarah Williams turned out an all-around strong performance with 11 points, a season-high six assists and four rebounds. Sophomore Lexi Martins pulled down 12 rebounds and was one of four Mountain Hawks to chip in six points.
American was led by Jen Dumiak with 22 points and nine assists. Shaquilla Curtis followed with 16 points, including the game-tying three-pointer with 0.8 seconds remaining that send the contest to overtime, while Michelle Holmes chipped in 15.
Lehigh finished the game shooting 44.1 percent (30-for-68) from the field, 40 percent (6-for-15) from three-point range and just 53.8 percent (7-for-13) from the free throw line. American shot 47.8 percent (32-for-67) from the field, including a 56.7 percent (17-for-30) mark in the second half, 15.4 percent (2-for-13) from downtown and 75 percent (9-for-12) from the charity stripe. Lehigh held a 44-31 rebound advantage, but committed 16 turnovers compared to American's 11.
An O'Reilly layup put the first points of the game on the board. After an Eagles layup, the Mountain Hawks put together a 6-0 run with the help of four points from Kinek to go up 8-2 before eventually controlling a 10-6 advantage at the first media timeout.
An O'Reilly steal and fast-break layup kick started a 14-4 run over the next six minutes. Five different Mountain Hawks scored during the streak in which Lehigh went 6-for-6 from the field, led by Kinek with five points as the Mountain Hawks took a commanding 24-10 lead with 9:09 left on the first-half clock.
The Eagles stormed back with an 11-2 run over the next three and a half minutes with the help of nine points from Dumiak. Lehigh shot just 1-for-10 during American's streak as the Eagles pulled within five at 26-21. A Kinek three-pointer ended the American run and was followed by a layup from junior Elizabeth Sharlow that gave Lehigh a 31-21 advantage with 1:44 left in the half. A Dumiak jumper and three-pointer from Emily Kinneston narrowed the Lehigh lead to five at halftime, as the Mountain Hawks controlled a 31-26 advantage heading into the locker room.
A pair of Kinek free throws opened up the second half, but the Eagles scored eight unanswered points over the next two minutes, six of which came from Holmes, as American took its first lead of the game at 34-33 with 17:12 to play. Lehigh jumped back in front right away as a layup from freshman Quinci Mann sparked a 7-2 Mountain Hawk run that gave Lehigh a 40-36 lead at 15:17.
Lehigh held onto a 42-38 advantage forty seconds later, but American made its next four attempts to put together at 12-5 run, take a 50-47 lead and wind the clock down to 10:01. The Mountain Hawks trailed 54-50 a minute and a half later before a layup from Martins and an O'Reilly conventional three-point play sparked nine unanswered Mountain Hawk points and helped Lehigh reclaim the lead at 57-54 with 7:07 left on the clock.
The Eagles stopped Lehigh's spurt with a conventional three-point play, but the back end of Lehigh's 15-3 run followed as points from O'Reilly, Martins and junior Amina Affini put the Mountain Hawks ahead 65-57 with 3:13 to play.
American responded with a 7-2 streak over the next two minutes to cut Lehigh's lead to 67-64 with under a minute left on the clock. A Williams three-point attempt fell short to give American back the ball with 28 seconds left on the clock before American's Curtis hit a three-pointer to knot the score at 67 and send the game into overtime.
Dumiak opened the overtime scoring with back-to-back layups to put the Eagles up 71-67 with 2:07 on the clock. O'Reilly answered with a layup of her own, but American scored the next three points following a Curtis layup and Holmes free throw as the clock wound down to 49 seconds with American leading 74-69.
Mann quickly drove to the basket and tossed in a layup on Lehigh's next possession, pulling the Mountain Hawks within three at 74-71 with 41 seconds to play. A missed American jumper gave Lehigh back the ball with nine seconds, but the Eagles immediately sent the Mountain Hawks to the free throw line where O'Reilly converted both of her opportunities to put Lehigh within one at 74-73 and 6.4 seconds left.
Lehigh fouled the Eagles immediately, sending Dumiak to the line where the senior hit the first of two shots, giving Lehigh the ball with 6.4 seconds to play down by two at 75-73. Williams drove to the basket, but her shot rolled off the rim as time expired as American walked away with the 75-73 win to remain undefeated in Patriot League play.
Next up, the Mountain Hawks hit the road for a pair of league contests at Holy Cross (Saturday 1 p.m.) and Navy (Wednesday 7 p.m.). Free video is available on the Patriot League Network for both games with audio coverage on 91.3 WLVR.
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Team Stats
AMERICAN
LEHIGH
FG%
.478
.441
3FG%
.154
.400
FT%
.750
.538
RB
31
44
TO
11
16
STL
9
4
Game Leaders
Pts
19
FGM
7
3FGM
2
FTM
3
Pts
18
FGM
7
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Pts
6
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballG/F
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballLehigh Sports Central: Women's Basketball
Wednesday, November 19
Season Preview - Women's Basketball
Friday, October 31
Chasing Greatness: The Road to the Patriot League Title - Part 2
Thursday, May 15
Chasing Greatness: The Road to the Patriot League Title - Part 1
Wednesday, May 14
