Wednesday, February 11
Washington, D.C.
7 p.m.
Lehigh University
16-7, 8-5
64
at
74
American
16-8, 11-2
1
2
F
Lehigh
31
33
64
American
31
43
74
Mountain Hawks suffer 74-64 loss at American
2/11/2015 8:57:00 PM | Women's Basketball
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Lehigh women's basketball team wasn't able to overcome hot-shooting American Wednesday night in Bender Arena as the first-place Eagles claimed a 74-64 victory. The Mountain Hawks led by as much as 11 early on in the first half, but American quickly chipped away at the Lehigh lead and shot 53.1 percent from the field in the second half en route to the victory. Lehigh falls to 16-7 overall and 8-5 in league play with the loss while the Eagles improve to 16-8 overall and 11-2 in the Patriot League.
"We got off to a very good start and played well, but we knew American is a good team and they were going to make a run," said head coach Sue Troyan. "They got hot the second half and we weren't able to respond to it."
Senior Katie O'Reilly led Lehigh with 16 points, followed by classmate Sarah Williams with 12 points and junior Kerry Kinek with ten points and eight rebounds.
Jen Dumiak led American with 21 points, followed by Arron Zimmerman with 19.
The Mountain Hawks finished the game shooting 39.3 percent (24-for-61) from the field, 29.4 percent (5-for-17) from downtown and 78.6 percent (11-for-14) from the free throw line. American wrapped up the contest with a 50.8 (30-for-59) field goal percentage, 53.8 percent (7-for-13) clip from downtown and 63.6 percent (7-for-11) mark from the charity stripe. American won the battle of the boards, 37-33.
The Mountain Hawks got out to a quick 5-0 lead thanks to a Kinek three-pointer and layup from sophomore Lexi Martins before a layup from freshman Quinci Mann gave Lehigh a 7-2 advantage at the first media timeout. Lehigh scored the first two buckets out of the timeout to pull ahead 11-2 with just under 15 minutes on the clock. Four straight points from O'Reilly followed an Eagles layup to put Lehigh up 15-4 and force an early American timeout.
Lehigh remained in control and kept its lead in double-digits at 21-11 with the clock at 9:03 before the Eagles used a 6-0 run over the next two and a half minutes to cut the Mountain Hawk advantage to five at 22-17. Mann re-extended the Lehigh lead following a three-pointer, but Dumaik scored the next six points of the contest as the Mountain Hawks went cold from the field and American pulled within two at 25-23 with under five minutes left on the first-half clock.
A Kinek jumper stopped the streak and the Mountain Hawk lead stayed intact until American's Shaquilla Curtis drained a three-pointer with five seconds left on the first-half clock to send the contest into halftime tied at 31.
The Eagles opened the second half on a 10-2 run to surge ahead 41-33 and force a quick Lehigh timeout just two minutes into the final term. A Zimmerman jumper followed the timeout and capped off American's 12-2 streak before Williams drained back-to-back treys to pull Lehigh within four at 45-41 with 15:06 to play.
American responded quickly as Dumiak tossed in the next five points of the game to lengthen the Eagles' advantage back to nine at 50-41. Lehigh was within eight at 55-47 following a layup from junior Amina Affini, but the Eagles exploded on an 11-2 run to take a commanding 66-49 lead with 7:17 to play.
American had an answer for every Lehigh basket for the rest of the way. A Martins three-pointer would pull Lehigh within ten and prove to be the final bucket of the contest as the Eagles claimed a 74-64 victory.
The Mountain Hawks return home Saturday to host Holy Cross at 2 p.m. inside Stabler Arena. The contest will be Lehigh's Play 4Kay game benefitting breast cancer research and awareness. Fans who wear pink to the game will receive free admission and Lehigh Gas will donate $1 to local women's cancer charities for every fan in attendance.
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Team Stats
LEHIGH
AMERICAN
FG%
.393
.508
3FG%
.294
.538
FT%
.786
.636
RB
33
37
TO
8
10
STL
6
6
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
16
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
6
Pts
12
FGM
5
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
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/ Women's BasketballF
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