Saturday, January 17
Worcester, Mass.
1:00 p.m.
Lehigh University
12-4, 4-2PL
66
at
60
Holy Cross
6-13, 2-4PL
1
2
F
Lehigh
31
35
66
Holy Cross
36
24
60
Lehigh rallies for 66-60 win at Holy Cross
1/17/2015 3:39:00 PM | Women's Basketball
WORCESTER, Mass. – The Lehigh women's basketball team trailed by nine at Holy Cross with 15:44 to play, but was slowly able to chip away at the Crusader lead and come back to pick up a 66-60 victory Saturday afternoon at the Hart Center. Lehigh held Holy Cross to just two points in the final three minutes and converted 9-of-10 attempts from the charity stripe to seal the road victory. Lehigh improves to 12-4 overall and 4-2 in league play with the win, while the Crusaders fall to 6-13 overall and 2-4 in the Patriot League.
"This was a really important win for us," said head coach Sue Troyan. "It was a game where we didn't play particularly well, but performed well when it mattered most down the stretch. Our defense held strong at the end and we're very happy with today's result."
Senior Katie O'Reilly led the team with a career-high 22 points to go along with eight rebounds and three steals. Sophomore Lexi Martins tallied her 11th double-double of the season with 13 points and 12 rebounds, while freshman Quinci Mann followed with seven points.
The Mountain Hawks shot 33.9 percent (20-for-59) from the field, 16.7 percent (3-for-18) from three-point range and 59 percent (23-for-59) from the free throw line. Holy Cross went 32.2 percent (19-for-59) from the field, 25 percent (3-for-12) from downtown and 79.2 percent (19-for-24) from the charity stripe. Lehigh held a 47-38 rebound advantage.
Lehigh got out to a 6-2 lead thanks to four points from O'Reilly and a jumper from junior Kerry Kinek and eventually stretched the advantage to 9-4 with 15:57 on the clock. An offensive putback from junior Elizabeth Sharlow was followed by an O'Reilly steal and fast-break layup to put the Mountain Hawks ahead 13-6 and force the Crusaders to take an early timeout at 14:20.
Holy Cross responded with four straight points, but sophomore Kayla Burton drained a three-pointer to put Lehigh back up by six at 16-10 at the under-12 media timeout. The Crusaders pulled close at 17-15, but the Mountain Hawks used a trey from sophomore Elizabeth Jordan and an O'Reilly jumper to take a 22-15 lead at 8:48.
The Crusaders responded with an 8-2 run with the help of a 4-for-4 showing from the free throw line as Holy Cross tied the score at 23 with 6:51 remaining on the first-half clock. Four straight points from Mann put the Mountain Hawks back on top, but Holy Cross eventually took its first lead of the game, 29-28, following a pair of made free throws from Emily Parker with 2:31 to play. The Mountain Hawks re-gained the lead once and tied the contest once in the closing minutes, but the Crusaders closed the half on a 7-3 run that was capped off by a last-second three-pointer from Kate Gillespie to take a 36-31 lead into halftime.
The Crusaders were able to stretch their lead to nine at 45-36 less than five minutes into the term, but an O'Reilly layup ignited a 6-2 Lehigh streak that saw buckets from Sharlow and sophomore Kiernan McCloskey as the Mountain Hawks pulled back within five with just over 12 minutes to play. Following a Holy Cross free throw, four points from Martins and one from Burton cut the Holy Cross lead to 48-47 with 9:20 left on the clock.
The Mountain Hawks were held scoreless for the next four minutes as the Crusaders took a four-point advantage at 54-50 until a Martins offensive putback and Kinek jumper pulled the Mountain Hawks back within one, 55-44, with 4:22 to play. The Crusaders responded with a three-pointer, but Mann converted a conventional three-point play a minute later to put the score at 58-57 with 3:01 left on the clock. Fifteen seconds later, O'Reilly hit a pair of free throws to give Lehigh its first lead since the opening half, 59-58, with 2:25 to play.
A Martins free throw that put Lehigh's lead at two, but Holy Cross' Scott hit a jumper to tie the game at 60 with 2:03 on the clock. A pair of free throws from senior Sarah Williams helped Lehigh re-take a two point lead at 62-60 30 seconds later before the Mountain Hawk defense came up with three big stops, capped off by a Williams steal. The two seniors, O'Reilly and Williams, combined to go 4-for-5 from the free throw line the rest of the way to lead Lehigh to the 66-60 victory.
The Mountain Hawks remain on the road Wednesday to face Navy at 7 p.m. Free video will be available on the Patriot League Network as well as audio coverage on WLVR-FM (91.3) beginning at 6:45.
Like Lehigh women's basketball on Facebook and follow on Twitter for exclusive content and team updates throughout the season.
Team Stats
LEHIGH
HC
FG%
.339
.322
3FG%
.167
.250
FT%
.590
.792
RB
47
38
TO
17
18
STL
9
7
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
22
FGM
8
3FGM
1
FTM
5
Pts
13
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
5
Pts
7
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
5
FGM
0
3FGM
0
FTM
5
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G/F
/ Women's BasketballG/F
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballChasing 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
Lehigh Sports Central: Women's Basketball
Wednesday, March 19
Lehigh Sports Central: Women's Basketball
Wednesday, January 29
