Saturday, March 14
Washington, D.C
6 p.m.
Lehigh University
(19-12)
50
at
66
No. 1 American
(24-8)
1
2
F
Lehigh
24
26
50
American
24
42
66
Mountain Hawks come up short in PL Championship Game at American, 66-50
3/14/2015 8:37:00 PM | Women's Basketball
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The No. 6 seed Lehigh women's basketball team ended the first half on a 17-6 run to pull even, but top-seeded American pulled away in the second half as the Mountain Hawks' bid for a fourth Patriot League Championship in school history fell short, 66-50 on Saturday evening in Bender Arena. Senior Sarah Williams led Lehigh with 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting and 3-of-5 from three-point range. The Mountain Hawks finished 7-of-13 from three-point range to give themselves a chance heading down the stretch.
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"Our team competes and plays really hard. I'm really proud of the season they've had and getting to this point to be in a championship game," said Lehigh head coach Sue Troyan. "American is a great representative of our league. They've got a great player in Jen Dumiak and a great supporting cast behind her. They are very deserving of winning tonight and representing our league in the NCAA Tournament."
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Sophomore Lexi Martins finished with eight points and 14 rebounds, eclipsing the Lehigh single-season rebound record in the process. Her sixth of the game gave her 336 for the season, besting the previous record of 335 that was set in 2001 by former standout Anne Tierney. Both Martins and Williams were named to the Patriot League All-Tournament Team.
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"Lexi had a great sophomore campaign," said Troyan. "There are plenty of areas where she can get better, which is exciting too. I thought Sarah played really well, carried us in the first half when we were really struggling to score. We struggled to score all night. She did everything you'd want a senior to do, playing her butt off and willing our team to get to the championship game."
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Junior Kerry Kinek also tallied double-figure points with 12 on 5-of-9 shooting and 2-of-3 from three-point range. Classmate Elizabeth Sharlow scored eight. Dumiak, the Patriot League Player of the Year, led American with 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting. Lehigh's record falls to 19-12 overall while the Eagles improve to 24-8.
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For the game, Lehigh shot 36.5 percent (19-of-52) from the field, 53.8 percent (7-of-13) from three-point range and 62.5 percent (5-of-8) from the free throw line. American shot 44.8 percent (26-of-58) from the field, 30 percent (3-of-10) from long distance and 64.7 percent (11-of-17) from the charity stripe. The Mountain Hawks held a dominant 40-30 edge in rebounds. Lehigh had 19 turnovers compared to just six for American which led to a 20-0 Eagles' edge in points off turnovers.Â
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Dumiak scored the first basket of the game and the Eagles quickly got out to a 7-2 lead before a Katie O'Reilly layup put two points on the board for Lehigh. American answered with a 4-0 run to jump ahead 11-4 as the clock wound down to 11:58. The Eagles eventually pulled ahead 18-7 at the 9:59 mark following a Lauren Crisler jumper, but Kinek drained a three-pointer 40 seconds later that sparked a 7-0 Lehigh streak. The run saw baskets from Williams and Sharlow as the Mountain Hawks pulled back within four at 18-14 and forced an American timeout with 7:47 on the clock.
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A Williams trey followed the break to cap off Lehigh's 10-0 run and narrow the American lead to 18-17, but the Eagles answered with back-to-back baskets to put its lead back to five at 22-17 with 5:15 left on the first-half clock. Williams drained a three on Lehigh's next possession before a Kinek layup and Williams jumper pulled the Mountain Hawks within one once again at 22-21 with 4:32 to play.Â
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Martins sunk a long three at the 3:01 mark to give Lehigh its first lead of the game, 24-22. Dumiak scored American's first basket since the 5:15 mark with 31 seconds left in the half to tie the game at 24 and the score would remain the same as the halftime buzzer rang and the teams headed into the locker room.
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The Eagles scored the first four points of the second half, but three-pointers from Kinek and Williams helped Lehigh knot the score at 30 with 17:33 on the clock. American scored the next eight points and kept Lehigh off the board for three minutes until Sharlow added another Mountain Hawk three-pointer to pull Lehigh back within five at 38-33 with 14:27 to play.
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American scored eight of the game's next ten points to extend its advantage to 46-35 with 11:35 left on the clock. The Eagles pulled ahead by as much as 13 a minute later before a Williams three-pointer and Kinek layup pulled the Mountain Hawks back within eight at 50-42 with 9:46 on the clock. American answered with a 7-2 run over the next four minutes to extend its lead to 57-44 with 5:21 to play.
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Lehigh wouldn't quit, pulling within 11 after a Martins basket made it 60-49 with 1:33 remaining, but the Eagles ended the game with six of the final seven points for the 66-50 final.
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"We have a good core coming back here," said Troyan. "Give our seniors a lot of credit. They really laid a strong foundation in terms of who we want our program to be and how we want to compete. We have good younger kids that will be coming up behind them."
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Team Stats
LEHIGH
AMERICAN
FG%
.365
.448
3FG%
.538
.300
FT%
.625
.647
RB
40
30
TO
19
6
STL
2
13
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
15
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
12
FGM
5
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G/F
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG
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