Wednesday, November 30
Stabler Arena
7 p.m.
Lehigh University
5-3
84
vs
52
NJIT
3-4
1
2
3
4
F
NJIT
13
11
9
19
52
Lehigh
19
27
18
20
84
Strong Team Effort Powers Lehigh Past NJIT 84-52
11/30/2016 10:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Twelve different Mountain Hawks scored points on Wednesday night in a strong 84-52 win over NJIT at Stabler Arena. Junior Taylor Campbell had a game-high 16 points, to go along with a career-best seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Senior Kayla Burton chipped in 12 points and two assists, tying her career-high with four three pointers. Freshmen Camryn Buhr and Gena Grundhoffer scored nine points apiece, junior Bernadette Devaney scored eight points while making her first career start, and sophomore Meagan Eripret added a career-high seven points. Hannah Hedstrom, Cameryn Benz and Hailey Pascoe all contributed six points each. Lehigh shot a season-best 52 percent (12-23) from three-point range, and shot 43.5 percent overall to improve to 5-3 on the season and 11-0 all-time against NJIT (3-4).
"I thought it was a great team win for us overall," said head coach Sue Troyan. "I thought the bench was tremendous. Taylor (Campbell) came in and it was really the first opportunity for her to get extended minutes. We always talk about being ready when your number is called. With Quinci Mann being out, she got to play extended minutes and did a great job out there stepping up for us both offensively and defensively."
Overall, Lehigh held a commanding 50-10 advantage in bench points, with all 12 players who saw action scoring at least one point.
After trading baskets through the first three minutes, Amber Morgan went coast to coast for a quick NJIT layup to put the Highlanders up 11-7. But the Mountain Hawks answered back going on 12-2 run to close the quarter. A three-pointer from straight down broadway by Grundhoffer at the 5:16 mark cut the deficit to 11-10. After a layup for each team, Campbell added her second fast break layup in less than 30 seconds to give Lehigh a lead they wouldn't relinquish. A layup from Eripret and a three pointer from Burton with under a minute to go brought the lead to 19-13 after one quarter of play.
"I thought Kayla (Burton) came in and gave us a lot of energy," Troyan said. "She played the point guard position really well, shot the ball really well, distributed the ball and was big factor for us. I thought that energy on both ends of the court was really contagious for the team."
Lehigh kept the momentum going following the break, running off the first seven points of the second quarter to extend the run to 19-2. Another Eripret layup, a pair of Benz free throws and another triple from Burton gave the team a 26-13 advantage by the 8:08 mark.
Morgan ended the Lehigh run with a layup to get NJIT within 11, but that was as close as the Highlanders would get for the rest of the night as Campbell answered with one of her two threes on the night. Another Campbell hoop followed by two free throws each from Bryce Menendez and Buhr brought the lead to 37-20. Lehigh closed the half with back-to-back threes from Pascoe and Burton to take a 46-24 going into the half.
Lehigh shot 46.9 percent in the opening 20 minutes and outrebounded the Highlanders 23-14.
The Mountain Hawks doubled up NJIT 18-9 in the third quarter and held them to just 4-of-17 from the field. A Pascoe three moved the lead to 27 (58-31) by the media timeout in the third quarter. Back to back layups from Hedstrom and Eripret over the final 1:09 of the third quarter gave the team its first lead of 30 or more points all season at 64-33.
Fourth quarter threes from Burton and Devaney both helped LU go up by their largest margin of 34 points within the first two minutes of the period. After NJIT got within 27 with just over a minute remaining, Buhr stepped up and sank her lone three of the night to make the score 82-52. Benz added a pair of free throws in the final minute to close out the scoring for the 84-52 final.
"There were definitely bright spots, but still some things to work on," Troyan said. "We're going into a week where we play arguably the toughest part of our schedule. We've got to be able to have really good practices and just be play better than we are right now in order to compete successfully with those teams."
Next up for Lehigh will be a trip to Villanova on Monday evening at 7 p.m.
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Team Stats
NJIT
LEHIGH
FG%
.339
.435
3FG%
.167
.522
FT%
.600
.857
RB
39
41
TO
16
11
STL
4
6
Game Leaders
Pts
16
FGM
6
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
4
FTM
0
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
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/ Women's Basketball
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/ Women's Basketball
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