Saturday, February 28
7:30 p.m.
Lehigh University
17-11, 9-9PL
60
vs
61
Colgate
8-21, 7-11PL
1
2
F
Colgate
30
31
61
Lehigh
30
30
60
Lehigh suffers tough 61-60 loss to Colgate in regular-season finale
2/28/2015 9:47:00 PM | Women's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – In a game that saw four lead changes and ten ties, the Lehigh women's basketball team came out on the short end of a back-and-forth battle with Colgate, 61-60, Saturday evening at Stabler Arena. Lehigh's two seniors, Katie O'Reilly and Sarah Williams, were honored prior to tipoff on Senior Night as the two played in their final regular-season home game. Lehigh falls to 17-11 overall and 9-9 in league play with the loss while the Raiders improve to 8-21 overall and 7-11 in the Patriot League.
The Mountain Hawks will be the No. 6 seed in the Patriot League Tournament and will head to No. 3 Holy Cross Friday in the quarterfinal round.
Williams led Lehigh offensively with a career-high tying 16 points, while O'Reilly followed with nine points and six rebounds. Junior Kerry Kinek recorded eight points and seven rebounds and sophomore Lexi Martins contributed a game-high 11 rebounds to go along with her seven points. Freshman Quinci Mann dished out a team-best four assists.
The Mountain Hawks finished the game shooting 35.5 percent (22-for-62) from the field, 23.1 percent (3-for-13) from three-point range and 81.3 percent (13-for-16) from the free throw line. Colgate shot 36.8 percent from the floor (25-for-68) and 22.2 percent (2-for-9) from downtown. Each team recorded 44 rebounds.
Colgate was led by Mariah Jones with 19 points and Carole Harris with 14.
Each team drained a three-pointer to open the game before Colgate followed with a 6-0 run to take a 9-3 lead at the first media timeout. A layup from junior Amina Affini stopped the streak at the 15:20 mark and a Kinek offensive putback followed to pull the Mountain Hawks within two at 9-7 with 14:12 to play in the first half.
Colgate pulled back ahead by four at 13-9, but a conventional three-point play from junior Elizabeth Sharlow and three points from sophomore Kiernan McCloskey tied the contest at 15 with 10:17 on the clock. The Raiders pulled ahead with a four-point streak, but the Mountain Hawks followed with an 11-2 run that took 4:47 off the clock as Lehigh held Colgate to just two points from the charity stripe during the streak. The run saw four points from O'Reilly and three from Williams as Lehigh pulled ahead 26-21.
Colgate used a 4-for-5 showing from the field to string together a 9-4 run over the final 2:40 of the first half and send the teams into the locker room deadlocked at 30.
Lehigh trailed 36-34, but answered with an 11-1 that wound the clock down to 14:01. Williams scored the opening and closing baskets of the run, good for five points, as the Mountain Hawks went 4-for-4 from the field and took a 45-37 lead over the Raiders.
The Raiders promptly answered with a 10-2 run over the next 3:51 to tie the game once again at 47 with 10:10 to play. Lehigh was up 53-49 two minutes later, but the Raiders tied the score again at 52 following a Jones layup with 6:59 on the clock.
Five free throws from Mann comprised a 5-1 Mountain Hawk run to help Lehigh gain a 58-54 advantage with under five minutes to play. Lehigh held onto a 60-57 advantage following a pair of Kinek free throws, but Jones tossed in a layup for the Raiders to narrow the Lehigh lead to 60-59 with 1:53 to play. Neither team scored again until Randyll Butler layed the ball in with six seconds to play to give the Raiders a 61-60 advantage. O'Reilly had a good look on the final possession of the game, but the ball rolled off from the rim as Colgate claimed the 61-60 victory.
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Team Stats
COLGATE
LEHIGH
FG%
.368
.355
3FG%
.222
.231
FT%
.643
.813
RB
44
44
TO
13
17
STL
9
4
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
16
FGM
7
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
8
FGM
1
3FGM
1
FTM
5
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
G/F
/ Women's BasketballG/F
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballG
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