Wednesday, February 25
Lewisburg, Pa.
7 p.m.
Lehigh University
17-10, 9-8PL
61
at
69
Bucknell
18-10, 10-7PL
1
2
F
Lehigh
22
39
61
Bucknell
28
41
69
Mountain Hawks fall 69-61 at Bucknell
2/25/2015 9:11:00 PM | Women's Basketball
LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Lehigh women's basketball team put together several rallies that fell just short in a 69-61 loss at Bucknell Wednesday evening in Sojka Pavillion. The Mountain Hawks fall to 17-10 overall and 9-8 in league play, while the Bison win their third-straight contest to improve to 18-10 overall and 10-7 in the Patriot League.
"We played a better offensive game today than we have for the last two games, but Bucknell played well and we didn't have an answer," said head coach Sue Troyan. "It was a game where we could never really put the whole thing together. There were good offensive and defensive moments and some bright spots, but we have to be able to put 40 minutes together at this point in the season."
Senior Katie O'Reilly led the way for the Mountain Hawks with 18 points on an 8-for-10 shooting effort. Sophomore Lexi Martins followed with 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Senior Sarah Williams tallied ten points, while junior Kerry Kinek dished a team-best four assists.
The Mountain Hawks finished the game shooting 40.7 percent (24-for-59) from the field, 26.3 percent (5-for-19) from three-point range and 44.4 percent (8-for-18) from the charity stripe. Bucknell shot 50 percent (24-for-48) from the field, 30.8 percent (4-for-13) from downtown and 77.3 percent (17-for-22) from the free throw line. The Bison held a slim 32-30 rebound advantage.
Bucknell was led by Audrey Dotson with 19 points and five assists and the reigning Patriot League Player and Rookie of the Week Jacquie Klotz with 18 points and eight rebounds.
O'Reilly scored the first four points of the game in the opening minute, but Dotson answered right back with five of her own before the Bison controlled a 9-8 lead at the first media timeout as both teams opened the game shooting 4-for-5 from the field.
The teams cooled off but traded baskets over the next few minutes as Williams scored the next six points for Lehigh and put the Mountain Hawks ahead 15-14 with 9:37 left in the first half. Bucknell quickly reclaimed the lead with a Klotz jumper at the 7:56 mark that made it 18-17 in favor of Bucknell and sparked a 6-2 Bison run to force a timeout as Lehigh fell behind 24-19 with 5:24 on the clock.
A jumper from freshman Quinci Mann stopped the Bison streak just over a minute later to pull Lehigh within three at 24-21, but the Bison closed the half on a 4-1 run and kept the Mountain Hawks scoreless from the field in the final four minutes of the half to carry a 28-22 lead into halftime.
Martins scored the first seven Lehigh points of the second half and Lehigh pulled within three on two occasions, but the Bison opened the term 3-for-4 from the field and 4-for-4 from the charity stripe to extend their lead to 39-29 with just under 16 minutes to play. Junior Amina Affini drained a three-pointer at 14:57 to halt a 7-0 Bucknell streak, but the Bison continued to surge and pulled ahead by 15 at 50-35 with 9:42 to play.
Lehigh responded with a 17-6 run over the next four minutes and pulled within four at 56-52 following a three-pointer from sophomore Kayla Burton and free throw from Kinek. The streak saw seven points from O'Reilly and four from sophomore Kiernan McCloskey to get the Mountain Hawks back in the game.
The Bison answered with a 7-0 run that was comprised of five points from Dotson to pull ahead 63-52 with just over three minutes to play. Freshman Bernadette Devaney drained a three-pointer to stop the Bucknell run and Martins followed with a layup as Lehigh was all of the sudden within six at 63-57 with 2:22 on the clock. It would prove to be as close as Lehigh would get the rest of the way as the Bison closed the game on a 6-2 run before a last-second Kinek jumper made the score 69-61 as the buzzer rang.
The Mountain Hawks close out the regular season Saturday at 7:30 p.m. against Colgate on Senior Night in Stabler Arena. Tickets can be purchased online at LehighTickets.com or by calling 610-7LU-GAME during normal business hours.
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Team Stats
LEHIGH
BUCKNELL
FG%
.407
.500
3FG%
.263
.308
FT%
.444
.773
RB
30
32
TO
10
12
STL
8
5
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
18
FGM
8
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
4
FGM
1
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG/F
/ Women's BasketballG/F
/ Women's BasketballG
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