Wednesday, February 4
West Point, N.Y.
7 p.m.
Lehigh University
15-6, 7-4
62
at
66
Army
16-5, 8-3
1
2
F
Lehigh
30
32
62
Army
31
35
66
Lehigh suffers 66-62 defeat at red-hot Army
2/4/2015 9:23:00 PM | Women's Basketball
WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Lehigh women's basketball team erased an early 13-point deficit, but couldn't complete the effort as the Mountain Hawks fell 66-62 Wednesday night at Army. The Black Knights used a 16-for-19 (84.2 percent) showing from the free throw line and 14-9 edge on the offensive glass to snap the Mountain Hawks' three-game win streak. Lehigh falls to 15-6 overall and 7-4 in the Patriot League with the loss while Army improves to 16-5 overall and 8-3 in league play and extends its winning streak to seven-straight games.
"I thought the last 30 minutes of the game were well played on both ends," said head coach Sue Troyan. "We really struggled out of the gate, but once we found ourselves it was a well-played game. It went back and forth for a while and good have gone either way apart for the rebounding and some missed free throws on our end."
Junior Kerry Kinek led the way for Lehigh with 15 points and six rebounds, while sophomore Lexi Martins and freshman Quinci Mann each chipped in ten points. Senior Sarah Williams contributed nine points, while junior Amina Affini posted eight in a balanced team attack. Senior Katie O'Reilly led the squad with three assists.
Kelsey Minato, the league's leading scorer, registered a game-high 23 points for the Black Knights, while Olivia Schretzman recorded 19 points and 11 rebounds.
The Mountain Hawks finished the game shooting 42.4 percent (19-for-45) from the field, 42.9 percent (6-for-14) from three-point range and 69.2 percent (18-for-26) from the free throw line. Army went 39 percent (23-for-59) from the field and 26.7 percent (4-for-15) from downtown. The Black Knights held a 35-32 rebound advantage.
The Black Knights got out to a quick 8-0 lead and held the Mountain Hawks scoreless until Kinek drained a three-pointer just over three minutes into the game. Army jumped ahead by as much as 16-3 before a three-pointer from sophomore Kayla Burton and a Martins free throw made the score 16-7 with just under 12 minutes to play.
The Black Knights worked their lead to 13 at 23-10 with 8:48 to play in the opening term, but Lehigh responded with an 8-2 run over the next four minutes to trim the Army advantage to 25-20 and force a Black Knights timeout. The streak saw points from four different Mountain Hawks as the clock ran down to 4:30 in the opening term.
A pair of Mann free throws and baskets from Martins and Affini helped Lehigh score six of the next eight points out of the timeout to pull within one at 27-26 with 2:17 on the clock before a free throw from O'Reilly tied the game at 27. An Army layup put the Black Knights back out in front by one until Affini drained a trey to give Lehigh its first lead of the game at 30-29 with 40 seconds left in the half. A jumper from Army's Lena' Hicks with 14 seconds remaining gave the Black Knights a slim 31-30 advantage heading into the locker room, but not before the Mountain Hawks were able to rally from a 13-point deficit thanks to the 20-8 run over the final 8:48 of the half.
The Mountain Hawks only allowed Army to score one field goal in the first four minutes of the second half, but the Black Knights used a 6-for-6 showing from the free throw line to control a 40-36 advantage at the first media timeout. Army held onto a four or six point lead until four-straight points from Kinek sparked a 10-2 Lehigh run that also saw a Mann three-pointer, Affini layup and Martins free throw as Lehigh took a 50-48 lead with 7:29 to play.
Army reclaimed the lead on a pair of Schretzman free throws, which sparked a 6-0 Black Knight run that wound the clock down to 4:21 as Army claimed a 56-51 lead. Lehigh's three-minute scoreless streak was stopped by a pair of O'Reilly free throws that ignited a 6-2 Mountain Hawk run that was capped off by a pair of Kinek free throws to pull Lehigh within one at 58-57 with 1:56 remaining in the game.
A Minato layup stretched Army's lead to three at 62-59 with 44.2 seconds to play. Lehigh missed its next two chances and sent the Black Knights to the line where they went 3-for-3 to make the score 65-59 with 19 seconds left on the clock. Williams drained a three to cut the Army lead to 65-62 with 11.1 seconds left, but Army added one last free throw before a Lehigh shot fell short and the Black Knights picked up the 66-62 victory.
The Mountain Hawks return home Saturday to host Loyola at 2 p.m. in Stabler Arena. Tickets can be purchased at Lehightickets.com.
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Team Stats
LEHIGH
ARMY
FG%
.413
.397
3FG%
.400
.286
FT%
.692
.842
RB
31
36
TO
12
10
STL
3
6
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
15
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G/F
/ Women's BasketballG
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