Wednesday, January 7
7 p.m.
Lehigh University
11-2, 3-0PL
63
vs
51
Army
9-4, 1-2PL
1
2
F
Army
18
33
51
Lehigh
26
37
63
Strong defense helps Lehigh to 63-51 victory over defending league champ Army
1/7/2015 9:22:00 PM | Women's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh women's basketball team turned out its best defensive effort of the season and never trailed in a 63-51 victory over Army Wednesday evening in Stabler Arena. The Mountain Hawks allowed a season-low 51 points as just five Black Knights were able to score. Lehigh improves to 11-2 overall and 3-0 in the Patriot League while Army falls to 9-4 overall and 1-2 in league play.
"This was probably our best defensive effort all year and I think the team really played well," said head coach Sue Troyan. "I'm very proud of how they competed. I thought Amina Affini and Sarah Williams did a tremendous job containing Kelsey Minato. The team as a whole really made it difficult for her to carry their team."
Lehigh's victory cemented the Mountain Hawks' first 3-0 start to Patriot League play since the 2007-08 season. Lehigh's 11-2 overall record is the best since the 2009-10 squad started 13-2. That team went on to win a Patriot League Championship.
Sophomore Lexi Martins registered her tenth double-double of the season with 20 points and a career-high 16 rebounds. Martins added four assists to go with her fifth-straight double-double. Senior Katie O'Reilly followed with 15 points, five rebounds and four assists, while classmate Sarah Williams chipped in 11 points.
The Mountain Hawks shot 48.9 percent (22-for-45) from the field and 50 percent (6-for-12) from three-point range. Lehigh struggled from the charity stripe, going just 13-for-29 (44.8 percent). The Mountain Hawk defense held Army to a 35.7 percent (20-for-56) clip from the field and 14.3 percent (2-for-14) showing from downtown. Only five Black Knights were able to find the basket, led by the league's leading scorer Kelsey Minato and Olivia Schretzman with 16 points apiece. The Mountain Hawks held a 37-33 rebound advantage.
A jumper from O'Reilly put the first points on the board. Lehigh held Army scoreless for its first three possessions until a layup from Aimee Oertner gave the Black Knights their first points of the game with 17:48 on the clock. Following a 4-4 tie at the under-16 media timeout, a three-pointer from junior Amina Affini sparked a 12-2 Lehigh run. The streak took 5:13 off the clock and saw four points from Martins, a three-pointer from freshman Quinci Mann and a jumper from Williams as the Mountain Hawks jumped ahead 16-6 with just over 11 minutes left in the opening term.
The Mountain Hawks led by as much as 11 following a three-pointer from junior Kerry Kinek which gave Lehigh a 19-8 lead at 9:19. Both teams displayed strong defense as the squads exchanged a few baskets and Lehigh held onto a 24-14 lead with 5:03 left in the half. Army tallied the next four points to narrow the Mountain Hawk lead to six at 24-18 as the Black Knights held Lehigh scoreless for three and a half minutes and the clock wound down to 1:47. A Martins layup capped off the first half to give Lehigh a 26-18 lead heading into the locker room.
Lehigh shot 50 percent (11-for-22) from the field and 42.9 percent (3-for-7) from three-point range in the opening half, while holding Army to just 34.8 percent (8-for-23) from the floor and 12.5 percent (1-for-8) from downtown. Only three Black Knights scored in the opening half, led by Minato with seven points. The Mountain Hawks held a commanding 19-9 rebound advantage at the half and Army's 18 points represented Lehigh's best defensive half of the season.
Army opened the second half on an 8-3 run to narrow the Lehigh lead to three at 29-26 and force a Lehigh timeout three minutes into the term. Lehigh responded with an 11-3 run that was comprised of five points from Williams and three apiece from Martins and O'Reilly to put the Mountain Hawk lead back into double-digits at 39-29. The Mountain Hawks forced four Army turnovers during the run and wound the clock down to 12:36.
Lehigh held onto a ten-point lead two minutes later with the score at 44-34. A Martins three-pointer sparked a 10-6 Lehigh run that was capped off by a Williams trey as Lehigh took its largest lead of the game at 54-40 with 6:22 to play.
The Black Knights answered with 6-0 run over the next two and a half minutes as Lehigh's lead was cut to eight at 54-46 with 3:51 on the clock. A Martins jumper kick started a 9-3 Lehigh run to close out the contest as the Mountain Hawks scored five of their nine points from the free throw line. An Oertner layup with 13 seconds left got two points back for Army, but it wasn't enough as Lehigh captured a 63-51 win and snapped a four-game losing streak against the Black Knights.
The Mountain Hawks return to action Saturday at Loyola. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. and free video will be available on the Patriot League Network as well as audio coverage on WLVR-FM (91.3) beginning at 1:45.
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Team Stats
ARMY
LEHIGH
FG%
.357
.489
3FG%
.143
.500
FT%
.563
.448
RB
33
37
TO
14
15
STL
6
4
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
20
FGM
9
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
15
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
3
Pts
5
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG/F
/ Women's BasketballG
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