Monday, December 5
Villanova, Pa.
7 p.m.
Lehigh University
5-4
37
at
59
Villanova
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Lehigh
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Villanova
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Villanova Thwarts Lehigh Rally, Pulls Away for 59-37 Win
12/5/2016 9:57:00 PM | Women's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh women's basketball team rallied to get within five points of Villanova heading into the fourth quarter, but the Wildcats surged for a 19-2 run over the final 10 minutes to top the Mountain Hawks 59-37. Junior Taylor Campbell led Lehigh for the second straight game with 13 points, junior Quinci Mann notched eight points and five rebounds, and freshman Camryn Buhr scored four points and a team-high six rebounds. Freshman Gena Grundhoffer registered six points and four rebounds, while Mae Williams, Hannah Hedstrom and Kayla Burton scored two points apiece. Lehigh drops to 5-4 on the season, while Nova now sits at 4-4.
Both teams got off to a slow start shooting the ball, combining to go just 4-for-22 heading into the first media timeout. Mann and Nova's Megan Quinn traded buckets, then Jannah Tucker added a Wildcat three and Alex Louin converted a layup to give Nova a 7-2 lead going into the first timeout.
Down 11-4, Mann added back-to-back jumpers to move Lehigh within 11-8, then Cameryn Buhr added a layup with 31 seconds left in the quarter to make it 14-10 going into the break. Lehigh outrebounded Nova 17-9 in the first quarter, but Nova had six of their seven first half blocks in the period.
Coming out in the second quarter, Villanova opened up on an 8-2 run, capped by a pair of layups from Mary Gedaka, forcing a Lehigh timeout at the 6:47 mark. Adrianna Hahn tacked on a layup to make it 24-12, before Taylor Campbell dropped in a three-pointer with 5:26 to go to make it 24-15. A pair of free throws from Buhr with 4:40 to go would be the final points of the first half for Lehigh, who shot just 20 percent in the second quarter and 7-for-28 in the opening 20 minutes.
Mann led the Mountain Hawks with six points in the first half, all coming in the first quarter, and Buhr collected all six of her rebounds in the first half.
"I thought we didn't play particularly well on the offensive end in the first half," said head coach Sue Troyan. "That was one of our better defensive efforts, but we did struggle to score the ball. Part of that is execution and part of that was good defensive execution by Villanova."
After turning the ball over nine times in the first half, Lehigh only committed two turnovers in the final 20 minutes of action to amass a season-low 11 for the game.
"We did a much better job handling the ball," Troyan said of the second half. "I thought we came out in the first half and were kind of intimidated and weren't ready to shoot the ball, turned it over a lot and didn't run a lot of good offensive stuff either. We didn't put ourselves in good positions to score the ball, but we made good adjustments come the second half."
The second half proved to be a tale of two quarters for Lehigh, who shot an 8-for-16 in the third, but followed that up by going just 1-of-13 from the field in the fourth.
After falling behind 33-19, Mann sank a pull up jumper to get within 12 before Villanova responded with a three-pointer to go back up by 15. Campbell then caught fire from the field, going on a 10-0 run by herself as part of 12 unanswered points from Lehigh to cut the deficit to 36-33. The run started with a Campbell three-pointer at the 6:28 mark, which she followed with a fast break layup off an assist from Mann. Campbell then collected a steal of her own less than 30 seconds later and took it to the hoop herself to make it 36-28 at the 4:26 mark. After a miss at the Villanova end 40 seconds later, Devaney fed a pass ahead to Campbell who pulled up and sank another three-pointer on the break to cut it to 36-31. Grundhoffer then capped the run with a bucket with 2:07 to left in the frame to cut it to 36-33. Nova would end the run with four straight points before Williams hit a layup with 32 seconds left to make it a 40-35 game entering the fourth quarter.
"Taylor's given us a great spark off the bench," Troyan said. "She's bringing a lot of good energy, scoring, defensive ability and has really earned the opportunity to be out on the floor."
Villanova answered in a big way in the final quarter, upping the lead to 10 with a three-pointer from Louin and a layup from Quinn by the 7:06 mark. Grundhoffer responded with a jumper in the paint to make it 45-37, but that would be all for Lehigh as the Wildcats would score the game's final 14 points over the remaining 6:41 to pull off the 59-37 win.
The total of 37 points is Lehigh's lowest scoring output of the season, as they also shot a season-worst 28.1 percent (16-for-57) from the field. Villanova ended the game shooting exactly 40 percent.
The Mountain Hawks will return home this Thursday night to host Rider in their final home game before the holiday break. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. from Stabler Arena.
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Team Stats
LEHIGH
VU
FG%
.281
.400
3FG%
.176
.267
FT%
.500
.600
RB
38
41
TO
11
7
STL
1
5
Game Leaders
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
6
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
4
FGM
1
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballLehigh Sports Central: Women's Basketball
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