Wednesday, December 30
West Point, N.Y.
7 p.m.
Lehigh University
7-5, 0-1
39
at
63
Army West Point
10-1, 1-0
1
2
3
4
F
Lehigh
9
4
16
10
39
Army West Point
8
13
25
17
63
Photo by: Army Athletics
Mountain Hawks fall 63-39 in league opener at Army
12/30/2015 9:15:00 PM | Women's Basketball
WEST POINT, N.Y. – Despite a strong defensive first half, the Lehigh women's basketball team wasn't able to get much going offensively in a 63-39 loss at preseason favorite Army West Point Wednesday night in the Patriot League opener at Christl Arena. The Black Knights remain undefeated at home with the win and move to 10-1 overall and 1-0 in Patriot League play, while Lehigh falls to 7-5 on the season and 0-1 in league action.
"Army's defensive pressure gave us a lot of problems and took us out of what we wanted to do offensively," said head coach Sue Troyan. "I thought we played a really good defensive first half, but didn't handle the ball well or handle pressure well at all."
Sophomore Quinci Mann led the Mountain Hawks with 13 points, while junior Lexi Martins followed with ten points and eight rebounds. Senior Kerry Kinek chipped in eight points and eight boards. Army was led by Janae McNeal with 20 points and preseason Player of the Year Kelsey Minato with 19 points.
The Mountain Hawks finished the game shooting 28.8 percent (15-for-52) from the field, highlighted by a 45.8 percent (11-for-24) second-half mark. Lehigh was just 1-for-12 (8.3 percent) from three-point range and 47.1 percent (8-for-17) from the free-throw line. Lehigh held Army to a 27.6 (8-for-29) first-half field goal percentage, but the Black Knights shot 63.0 percent (17-for-27) in the second half to finish the game with a mark of 44.6 percent (25-for-56).
A Minato layup put the first two points on the board a minute into the game, but a conventional three-point play from Mann and a layup from senior Elizabeth Sharlow followed as Lehigh took a 5-2 lead and kept the Black Knights scoreless for nearly five minutes to wind the first-quarter clock down to 5:39. A pair of Minato free throws were followed by a Mann layup to put the score at 7-4 less than a minute later. A scoreless streak of three minutes was broken by two made free throws from both teams before an Army layup ended the quarter as Lehigh held onto a 9-8 lead.
Army opened the second quarter on a 10-0 run to take an 18-9 lead as the Black Knights held Lehigh scoreless for the first 6:44 of the term to wind the first-half clock down to under four minutes. A layup from senior Amina Affini at the 3:16 mark was Lehigh's lone field goal in the second quarter. The Black Knights scored the next three points before a pair of free throws from Martins put the final two points of the half on the board and Army carried a 21-13 lead into halftime.
The third quarter began with a Mann layup, but Army responded with a 7-2 streak over the next 1:20 to take a 30-17 lead with 7:36 to play in the term. The teams traded baskets over the next three minutes, with the Black Knights still holding a 13-point lead at 36-23 with 4:25 on the clock. Four points from Martins helped pull Lehigh back within nine at 38-27 with just over two minutes left, but the Black Knights closed the quarter on an 8-2 run to jump ahead 46-29.
The fourth quarter was much of the same as the Black Knights put together a 14-4 run to stretch the Army advantage to 60-33 with 2:50 to play. Kinek and Martins scored the next two baskets, but it was too little, too late as Army eventually captured a 63-39 win.
The Mountain Hawks wrap up a five-game road swing Saturday when Lehigh heads to Boston University. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. and free video will be available on the Patriot League Network.
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Team Stats
LEHIGH
ARMY
FG%
.288
.446
3FG%
.083
.333
FT%
.471
.692
RB
36
40
TO
24
17
STL
5
13
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
13
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
2
FGM
0
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
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