Friday, December 30
Stabler Arena
7 p.m.
Lehigh University
5-7, 0-1PL
71
vs
75
Army West Point
10-2, 1-0PL
1
2
3
4
F
ARMY
12
16
15
32
75
Lehigh
13
15
18
25
71
Army Holds Off Lehigh Late for 75-71 Win
12/30/2016 10:35:00 PM | Women's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh women's basketball team dropped its Patriot League opener at Stabler Arena on Friday evening with a 75-71 loss to Army West Point. Junior Bernadette Devaney scored a career-high 13 points on 3-of-4 shooting and Quinci Mann also tied for the team lead with 13 points. Freshman Cameryn Benz chipped in 11 points and six rebounds, sophomore Hailey Pascoe tallied nine points and four rebounds, and Mae Williams registered a career-high with eight points. Freshman Camryn Buhr added eight points and five rebounds, while classmate Hannah Hedstrom had a game-high six assists and three steals. The Patriot League's leading scorer, Madison Hovren, netted a career-high 28 points with 13 rebounds for Army, including a 12-for-12 clip from the free throw line. The defeat was Lehigh's fourth in a row, dropping them to 5-7 (0-1 PL) on the season, while Army improves to 10-2 (1-0 PL).
Army outshot Lehigh 41.8 percent to 40.3 percent from the field in the game, while the Mountain Hawks shot over 27 percent (6-for-22) from three-point land to the Cadets 11.8 percent (2-for-17). Army also held an edge in rebounds (43-31) and second chance points (17-5).
"When you look back on the game, we had a five-point lead and didn't execute two defensive out-of-bounds plays, and that gave them five points to even up the game," said head coach Troyan said. "We missed a lot of shots around the basket, and that was big difference. Looking back at it, it's certainly a game where we had our chances to win but we didn't finish it."
Williams got Lehigh started with a pair of free throws to open the game, before Army went on an 8-0 runs to take a six-point lead. Benz ended the run by grabbing Lehigh's first field goal of the game with a layup at the 4:40 mark. Pascoe gave Lehigh the 11-10 lead with 2:41 to go, and Gena Grundhoffer gave Lehigh a 13-12 lead following a pair of free throws, an edge the Mountain Hawks carried into the second quarter.
Devaney spotted Lehigh a 16-12 lead coming out in the second quarter with a three-pointer, before Army exploded for a 12-0 run, going up 24-16 at the 4:55 mark. The Brown and White responded with the next eight points to retie the game thanks to a three-pointer from Williams, two free throws from Taylor Campbell and a layup by Mann. After four straight points from Army, Lehigh scored the last four points of the half to tie the game at 28-28 going into break with buckets from Mann and Grundhoffer.
"I think we've responded well to when the other team has made a run," Troyan said. "They have a lot of confidence in what they can do and they're not a team that's going to hang their head or get down. They're going to compete and one of the things I was proudest of with the team is that they matched Army's intensity and toughness. I thought we handled their pressure pretty well for the most part."
Lehigh outscored Army 18-15 in the third quarter, with Army holding a lead that would get no bigger than six points through the period's first eight minutes. Williams tied the game at 38-38 with a three-pointer at the 4:42 mark, and Buhr tied the game again two minutes later at 40-40. Lehigh then enjoyed a quick 6-0 run before an Army free throw in the final minute brought the Lehigh lead to 46-43 heading into the fourth quarter.
The two teams turned in a back-and-forth final quarter, combining for 57 points with both squads shooting over 60 percent in the final 10 minutes. Lehigh built its largest lead of the game on two separate occasions at 48-43 and 50-45 in the first minute of the period. Army responded with its second 12-0 run of the game to take a 57-50 lead, which was ended by a Pascoe three at the 6:55 mark. Lehigh chipped away and eventually took the lead as Mann sank a jumper in the paint with 2:27 to go for the 64-63 lead. The two teams answered each other over the next four possessions before Army took the lead for good with a three-point play by Aliyah Murray with 41 seconds remaining. Overall, the Black Knights scored the game's final seven points and hung on for the 75-71 final.
Lehigh will return to Stabler Arena on Monday afternoon at 2 p.m. for a Patriot League matinee against Boston University. The game will be televised live in the Lehigh Valley on Service Electric 2 Sports and online at PatriotLeague.TV.
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Team Stats
ARMY
LEHIGH
FG%
.418
.403
3FG%
.118
.273
FT%
.895
.938
RB
43
31
TO
17
18
STL
9
8
Game Leaders
Pts
13
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
5
Pts
13
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
F
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