Thursday, December 8
Stabler Arena
7 p.m.
Lehigh University
vs
Rider
Lehigh Looks to Return to Win Column at Home Against Rider
12/7/2016 6:42:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Complete Game Notes | Live Stats | Live Video (Patriot League Network)
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lehigh women's basketball team will look to get back in the win column on Thursday night when they return home to host Rider at 7 p.m. The Broncs enter the matchup on a two-game winning streak after playing a pair of Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference matchups this past weekend. Lehigh is coming off a 59-37 setback at Villanova on Monday night, their third loss in their last four games. After clawing back from an 11-point halftime deficit, Lehigh made a run to get within 40-35 heading into the fourth quarter, before the Wildcats ended the game on a 19-2 run to pull away for the win.
Taylor Campbell stayed hot for the Mountain Hawks, leading the team with 13 points to go with five rebounds. Over the last two games, Campbell has averaged 14.5 points and six rebounds off the bench. Quinci Mann tied a career-high with five rebounds to go with eight points at Villanova, while Camryn Buhr added a team-high six rebounds.
Lehigh returns home where they are 4-2 this season, including 3-1 in night games.
Monday's matchup will mark the ninth time in the first 10 games that Lehigh has played a game in the state of Pennsylvania.
IF LEHIGH BEATS RIDER
- The Mountain Hawks would improve to 20-9 all-time against Rider.
- Neither team would have won two games in a row in the series dating back to 1995. The teams have currently alternated wins over the last five matchups, with Rider winning in 2015.
ALL-TIME VS. RIDER
Lehigh and Rider will meet for the 29th time in program history on Thursday night, with Lehigh holding a 19-9 edge all-time in the series. No team has won two matchups in a row in this series going back through the last five meetings. The last winning streak came when Rider won four in a row over Lehigh from 1992-95.
The first matchup in the series came in 1980, with Lehigh pulling out a 59-57 win. The two teams then played each other at least once a year from 1980-1997, with the exception of the 1990-91 season.
Lehigh's longest winning streak in the series sits at nine, running from 1982-83 until the 1986-87 campaign.
After Rider won on Feb. 24, 1997, the two teams didn't meet again until Dec. 29, 2010 at Stabler Arena. Thursday's game will be just the third time the teams have met since 1997, with each going 1-1 over that span.
Lehigh dominated the early part of the series, going 17-3 in the 1980s, before Rider won five of the six matchups in the 1990s.
SCOUTING THE BRONCS
Rider enters the matchup with the Mountain Hawks with a 5-2 (2-0 MAAC) mark and riding a two-game winning streak. The matchup will be the fifth game of a seven game road trip for Rider, which lost to Central Florida and St. Bonaventure in Orlando, before opening up conference play with wins at Canisius (71-70) and Niagara (78-58). Including the Lehigh game, Rider will now play four more non-conference games prior to Christmas, before resuming conference play on December 30 against Quinnipiac.
Rider opened the season with three wins in a row for the first time in 34 years with victories over Princeton, Lafayette and La Salle.
Robin Perkins scored a career-high 29 points, 22 of which came in the first half, on Sunday at Niagara. The Broncs shot 50 percent (22-of-44) from the field, including 7-of-12 from three-point range. Both of those marks sit above their season averages of 40.7 percent shooting and 32.5 percent from beyond the arc.
Perkins leads the team so far this season with 15.6 ppg, while Stella Johnson (11.9) and Julia Duggan (11.3) also score in double figures. Dugan leads the team in rebounds with an average of 6.6 boards per game, while Kamila Hoscova ranks second at 4.4 rpg.
The 78 points scored at Niagara were a season-high for the Broncs, who have eclipsed the 70-point threshold five times in their first seven games. Rider has been held to 30 and 47 points in their two losses so far, both of which came at the UCF Thanksgiving Classic.
After finishing 8-22 (5-15 MAAC) last season, Rider was picked to finish 10th in the 11-team MAAC preseason poll, finishing three points ahead of last place Saint Peter's. Perkins was the lone Bronc to earn preseason all-conference honors, landing on the second team.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Lehigh is currently in the midst of playing seven of its 11 non-league games at home this season, the highest percentage (63.6) of non-league home games in at least the last 20 seasons. Following a 3-0 start at home, the Mountain Hawks are currently 4-2 at Stabler Arena after finishing last season 10-6 on their home floor. Overall, Lehigh will play nine of its first 13 games at home this season.
GOING BACK AND FORTH
Lehigh and Rider have alternated victories each of the last five times they have played each other, dating back to 1995. However this has not always been the case, as Lehigh dominated the early part of the series by going 17-3 in the 1980s, before Rider won five of the six matchups in the 1990s.
UN-LIGHTING THE SCOREBOARD
Lehigh's 37 points scored at Villanova on Dec. 5 was their lowest single game scoring output since they scored 39 in last season's Patriot League opener at Army (12/30/15). The last time the team scored below 39 points was on Feb. 27, 2013 in a 49-34 loss at Navy.
HOTTER THAN CAMPBELL'S SOUP
Taylor Campbell has been a force for Lehigh off the bench over the last two games. After averaging 1.6 points and 1.3 rebounds in 6.6 minutes through the first seven games, Campbell has turned out an average of 14.5 points and six rebounds over the last two games, including a career-best seven rebounds against NJIT.
CRUISING BY 30
Lehigh's 32-point win against NJIT was the first 30 point win since Nov. 25, 2015 when Lehigh beat Saint Peter's by 32 points. That win was the second in a row by at least 30 points, a streak the Mountain Hawks have not accomplished since.
BENCH PARTY
The Mountain Hawks bench outscored the NJIT bench by a 50-10 margin on Nov. 30. The 50 points scored by the Lehigh bench are the most since they scored 48 against Bucknell on Feb. 26, 2014. Those totals are the most scored by Lehigh in one game since at least the 2009-10 season. The Mountain Hawks also scored 44 bench points this season against Delaware State on Nov. 16.
POLARIZING ON THE BOARDS
Lehigh ranks second in the Patriot League by collecting 42.2 rebounds per game, but comes in ninth by allowing 43.0 boards per game. Overall, Lehigh's rebounding margin of -0.8 ranks fifth in the PL.
Lehigh has a completely new look to its front court this year with the graduation of Kerry Kinek and Lexi Martins, the second and third leading career rebounders in program history. Martins, who graduated a year early and transferred to George Washington, ranked third in the nation last year with 13.6 rebounds per game. Departed seniors Elizabeth Sharlow (4.3 rpg) and Amina Affini (2.7 rpg) rounded out the team's top four rebounders from 2015-16. Overall, the Mountain Hawks lost over 83 percent of their rebounds and 91 percent of their blocks from last season.
NIGHT HAWKS
Lehigh is 3-1 in night games so far this season, dropping their first evening game of the season at Villanova. The Mountain Hawks are 2-3 in day games.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lehigh women's basketball team will look to get back in the win column on Thursday night when they return home to host Rider at 7 p.m. The Broncs enter the matchup on a two-game winning streak after playing a pair of Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference matchups this past weekend. Lehigh is coming off a 59-37 setback at Villanova on Monday night, their third loss in their last four games. After clawing back from an 11-point halftime deficit, Lehigh made a run to get within 40-35 heading into the fourth quarter, before the Wildcats ended the game on a 19-2 run to pull away for the win.
Taylor Campbell stayed hot for the Mountain Hawks, leading the team with 13 points to go with five rebounds. Over the last two games, Campbell has averaged 14.5 points and six rebounds off the bench. Quinci Mann tied a career-high with five rebounds to go with eight points at Villanova, while Camryn Buhr added a team-high six rebounds.
Lehigh returns home where they are 4-2 this season, including 3-1 in night games.
Monday's matchup will mark the ninth time in the first 10 games that Lehigh has played a game in the state of Pennsylvania.
IF LEHIGH BEATS RIDER
- The Mountain Hawks would improve to 20-9 all-time against Rider.
- Neither team would have won two games in a row in the series dating back to 1995. The teams have currently alternated wins over the last five matchups, with Rider winning in 2015.
ALL-TIME VS. RIDER
Lehigh and Rider will meet for the 29th time in program history on Thursday night, with Lehigh holding a 19-9 edge all-time in the series. No team has won two matchups in a row in this series going back through the last five meetings. The last winning streak came when Rider won four in a row over Lehigh from 1992-95.
The first matchup in the series came in 1980, with Lehigh pulling out a 59-57 win. The two teams then played each other at least once a year from 1980-1997, with the exception of the 1990-91 season.
Lehigh's longest winning streak in the series sits at nine, running from 1982-83 until the 1986-87 campaign.
After Rider won on Feb. 24, 1997, the two teams didn't meet again until Dec. 29, 2010 at Stabler Arena. Thursday's game will be just the third time the teams have met since 1997, with each going 1-1 over that span.
Lehigh dominated the early part of the series, going 17-3 in the 1980s, before Rider won five of the six matchups in the 1990s.
SCOUTING THE BRONCS
Rider enters the matchup with the Mountain Hawks with a 5-2 (2-0 MAAC) mark and riding a two-game winning streak. The matchup will be the fifth game of a seven game road trip for Rider, which lost to Central Florida and St. Bonaventure in Orlando, before opening up conference play with wins at Canisius (71-70) and Niagara (78-58). Including the Lehigh game, Rider will now play four more non-conference games prior to Christmas, before resuming conference play on December 30 against Quinnipiac.
Rider opened the season with three wins in a row for the first time in 34 years with victories over Princeton, Lafayette and La Salle.
Robin Perkins scored a career-high 29 points, 22 of which came in the first half, on Sunday at Niagara. The Broncs shot 50 percent (22-of-44) from the field, including 7-of-12 from three-point range. Both of those marks sit above their season averages of 40.7 percent shooting and 32.5 percent from beyond the arc.
Perkins leads the team so far this season with 15.6 ppg, while Stella Johnson (11.9) and Julia Duggan (11.3) also score in double figures. Dugan leads the team in rebounds with an average of 6.6 boards per game, while Kamila Hoscova ranks second at 4.4 rpg.
The 78 points scored at Niagara were a season-high for the Broncs, who have eclipsed the 70-point threshold five times in their first seven games. Rider has been held to 30 and 47 points in their two losses so far, both of which came at the UCF Thanksgiving Classic.
After finishing 8-22 (5-15 MAAC) last season, Rider was picked to finish 10th in the 11-team MAAC preseason poll, finishing three points ahead of last place Saint Peter's. Perkins was the lone Bronc to earn preseason all-conference honors, landing on the second team.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Lehigh is currently in the midst of playing seven of its 11 non-league games at home this season, the highest percentage (63.6) of non-league home games in at least the last 20 seasons. Following a 3-0 start at home, the Mountain Hawks are currently 4-2 at Stabler Arena after finishing last season 10-6 on their home floor. Overall, Lehigh will play nine of its first 13 games at home this season.
GOING BACK AND FORTH
Lehigh and Rider have alternated victories each of the last five times they have played each other, dating back to 1995. However this has not always been the case, as Lehigh dominated the early part of the series by going 17-3 in the 1980s, before Rider won five of the six matchups in the 1990s.
UN-LIGHTING THE SCOREBOARD
Lehigh's 37 points scored at Villanova on Dec. 5 was their lowest single game scoring output since they scored 39 in last season's Patriot League opener at Army (12/30/15). The last time the team scored below 39 points was on Feb. 27, 2013 in a 49-34 loss at Navy.
HOTTER THAN CAMPBELL'S SOUP
Taylor Campbell has been a force for Lehigh off the bench over the last two games. After averaging 1.6 points and 1.3 rebounds in 6.6 minutes through the first seven games, Campbell has turned out an average of 14.5 points and six rebounds over the last two games, including a career-best seven rebounds against NJIT.
CRUISING BY 30
Lehigh's 32-point win against NJIT was the first 30 point win since Nov. 25, 2015 when Lehigh beat Saint Peter's by 32 points. That win was the second in a row by at least 30 points, a streak the Mountain Hawks have not accomplished since.
BENCH PARTY
The Mountain Hawks bench outscored the NJIT bench by a 50-10 margin on Nov. 30. The 50 points scored by the Lehigh bench are the most since they scored 48 against Bucknell on Feb. 26, 2014. Those totals are the most scored by Lehigh in one game since at least the 2009-10 season. The Mountain Hawks also scored 44 bench points this season against Delaware State on Nov. 16.
POLARIZING ON THE BOARDS
Lehigh ranks second in the Patriot League by collecting 42.2 rebounds per game, but comes in ninth by allowing 43.0 boards per game. Overall, Lehigh's rebounding margin of -0.8 ranks fifth in the PL.
Lehigh has a completely new look to its front court this year with the graduation of Kerry Kinek and Lexi Martins, the second and third leading career rebounders in program history. Martins, who graduated a year early and transferred to George Washington, ranked third in the nation last year with 13.6 rebounds per game. Departed seniors Elizabeth Sharlow (4.3 rpg) and Amina Affini (2.7 rpg) rounded out the team's top four rebounders from 2015-16. Overall, the Mountain Hawks lost over 83 percent of their rebounds and 91 percent of their blocks from last season.
NIGHT HAWKS
Lehigh is 3-1 in night games so far this season, dropping their first evening game of the season at Villanova. The Mountain Hawks are 2-3 in day games.
Players Mentioned
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