Saturday, February 6
Washington, D.C.
2 p.m.
Lehigh University
(15-7, 8-3PL)
61
at
52
American
(5-17, 3-8PL)
1
2
3
4
F
Lehigh
16
11
20
14
61
American
10
13
10
19
52
Mountain Hawks run win streak to six with 61-52 victory at American
2/6/2016 4:16:00 PM | Women's Basketball
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Lehigh women's basketball team was able to hold off a late American rally to capture a wire-to-wire 61-52 victory Saturday afternoon inside Bender Arena. Lehigh snaps a six-game losing streak to the Eagles and earns its first victory over American since Feb. 13, 2013. The win marks Lehigh's sixth-straight, the longest winning streak since the Mountain Hawks' 6-0 start to the season, as Lehigh moves to 8-3 in Patriot League play and 15-7 overall. American falls to 3-8 in league action and 5-17 overall with the loss.
"It's been a while since we've beat this team, so it was nice to get this win," said head coach Sue Troyan. "It wasn't our best game and we had our ups and downs on the offensive end, but I'm happy with the effort the kids put forth. The team battled and competed and this is a good win for us."
Sophomore Quinci Mann led Lehigh with 16 points, while senior Kerry Kinek followed with 12 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore Bernadette Devaney chipped in 11 points. Junior Lexi Martins was held to just five points, but pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds.
American was led by Cecily Carl with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
The Mountain Hawks finished the game shooting 37.5 percent (21-for-56) from the field, 40.9 percent (9-for-22) from three-point range and 50 percent (10-for-20) from the free throw line. Lehigh held American to a 38.5 (25-for-65) field goal percentage and 15.4 percent (2-for-13) clip from downtown. The Eagles held a slim 40-39 rebound advantage.
Freshman Hailey Pascoe drained a three-pointer on Lehigh's first possession before five-straight points from Mann gave the Mountain Hawks an early 8-4 advantage just over three minutes into the first quarter. The Eagles pulled within two at 8-6 with 5:25 left in the term, but Lehigh answered with an 8-2 run over the next three and a half minutes thanks to a layup from senior Elizabeth Sharlow and treys from Devaney and Kinek that gave Lehigh a 16-8 lead with 2:08 to play. An American jumper a minute later proved to be the final basket of the term as Lehigh carried a 16-10 lead into the second quarter.
The Eagles put together a 6-3 run over the first three minutes of the second quarter to trim the Lehigh advantage to 19-16. American was still within three at 21-18 with 5:41 left on the clock, but three points from Kinek and a Martins layup had Lehigh back up by six at 26-20 three minutes later. A three-pointer from Maria Liddane pulled American within 26-23 before a last-second free throw from sophomore Bernadette Devaney ended the half and gave Lehigh a 27-23 lead heading into the locker room.
A Mann layup opened the second half and was followed by a Martins layup and Pascoe trey as Lehigh used a 7-0 run to take a 34-23 lead just over a minute into the third quarter. A Carl jumper stopped the Lehigh streak with 7:56 on the clock and the Eagles were able to pull back within eight over the next three minutes with the score at 37-29 before a three-pointer from sophomore Mae Williams put Lehigh back up by double-digits and forced an American timeout with 5:02 left on the third-quarter clock. Lehigh held the Eagles to just two field goals in the rest of the period, as baskets from four different Mountain Hawks helped Lehigh carry a 47-33 lead into the final quarter.
The Eagles put together a 14-3 run throughout the first half of the fourth quarter as Lehigh found its lead trimmed down to three at 50-47 with 4:54 to play. Three free throws and four points from Mann strung together a 7-0 Lehigh run over the next two minutes that put the Mountain Hawks back up by double-digits at 57-47 with 2:43 left on the clock. The Eagles scored their first field goal in nearly four minutes at the 1:17 mark to cut their deficit to eight, but Lehigh came up with big stops on the defensive end of the floor and American was forced to foul down the stretch as the Mountain Hawks converted 4-of-6 attempts to capture a 61-52 victory.
The Mountain Hawks return home Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. to host first-place Bucknell inside Stabler Arena. Tickets are available at Lehightickets.com or by calling 610-7LU-GAME.
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Team Stats
LEHIGH
AMERICAN
FG%
.375
.385
3FG%
.409
.154
FT%
.500
.000
RB
39
40
TO
12
13
STL
6
3
Game Leaders
Pts
16
FGM
7
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
12
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
5
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
3
Pts
6
FGM
2
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
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