Wednesday, December 6
Bethlehem, Pa.
11 a.m.
Lehigh University
6-4
64
vs
50
NJIT
0-9
1
2
3
4
F
NJIT
16
15
10
9
50
Lehigh
14
19
18
13
64
Lehigh Overcomes Slow Start to Top NJIT on Education Day
12/6/2017 2:34:00 PM | Women's Basketball
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh women's basketball team overcame a sloppy first half start to take down NJIT 64-50 in the team's eighth annual Education Day on Wednesday morning. The crowd of 4,009 at Stable Arena was the third largest crowd to attend a Lehigh women's home game. Senior Quinci Mann led all scorers with 15 points on 6-for-11 shooting. Sophomore Gena Grundhoffer scored 12 points to go with six rebounds, sophomore Camryn Buhr added seven points and six rebounds, and freshman Mariah Sexe collected seven points and five rebounds. Senior Mae Williams tied her career-high with a team-leading seven rebounds, and Bernadette Devaney also chipped in eight points. The Mountain Hawks shot 48.1 percent (25-for-52) from the field and held NJIT to 34.5 percent overall and just 2-for-11 from three-point range. Lehigh (6-4) also outscored the Highlanders (0-9) 36-22 in the paint and 15-0 in transition.
Ten different players scored points for the Brown and White in the game, while the team registered a season-high six blocks.
"When we executed our stuff and took care of the ball we had good shots, played unselfishly and distributed the ball well," said head coach Sue Troyan. "It was just the inconsistency of doing that for 40 minutes. We had too many turnovers and were lackadaisical at times with the basketball; that's the frustrating part."
Despite holding a lead for over 11 minutes, Lehigh struggled through the first half, turning the ball over 11 times with NJIT collecting four steals.
NJIT jumped out to an early 9-6 lead at the first media timeout. Cameryn Benz hit a baseline jumper and then came down with a block on the defensive end, leading to a transition basket by Hedstrom to knot it up 14-14 with 1:16 left in the first. NJIT then collected an offensive rebound and put back as time expired on the quarter to take a 16-14 lead after one.
Sexe completed a three-point play with a hoop and free throw after drawing a foul to give Lehigh a 17-16 lead in the opening moments of the second quarter. Mann then added a three-pointer to make it 20-16 before the Highlanders battled back to tie the game at 24 at the 4:02 mark, before Devaney responded with a triple from the corner to make it 27-24. Lehigh built its largest lead of the half at seven with 1:03 to go following two free throws by Devaney to make it 33-26. A three-point play for the Highlanders, followed by two free throws cut the deficit to 33-31 going into the locker room. Sexe had five points and all five of her rebounds in a solid opening half to help lead Lehigh.
"Mariah played really well for us in the first half," Troyan said. "She gave us some good minutes and is just a strong post who is going to rebound and defend for you."
Lehigh started the second half with a surge, opening the frame on a 13-2 run to take control.
"I challenged them, honestly, on both ends of the floor," Troyan said. "We had to handle the ball better and make better decisions with the basketball and play with a higher level of intensity on defense. I thought we did a really good job in the third quarter coming up on the defensive end, really contesting shots and not giving them anything easy."
Buhr added a three-point play with a hoop and foul to make it 42-31 just under three minutes in. Mann and Grundhoffer scored two points each to get the lead to 13 with just under six minutes to go, and NJIT would get no closer than eight points the rest of the way as Lehigh held a 51-41 lead after three quarters.
Grundhoffer got the lead to 15 for the first time with a jumper in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. After the Highlanders got to within 11 with 7:04 to play, Lehigh rattled off eight straight over the next two and a half minutes courtesy of a fast break bucket by Williams, back-to-back layups from Meagan Eripret and a transition lay-in from Mann to open it up to a game-high 19 point, 64-45 lead with 4:30 left. NJIT would add five points in the final two minutes to cap the scoring.
"I was really impressed with how Mae (Williams) went in there in the fourth quarter and gave us some good minutes," Troyan said. "She defended well inside and did a nice job finishing inside as well.
"I'm really appreciative of our administrative staff for putting on this event," Troyan said of Education Day. "We started with about 1,000 kids and it's grown to about 4,000. You don't always get to play in front of a crowd that's this loud or into it so it's a special day for our players."
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh women's basketball team overcame a sloppy first half start to take down NJIT 64-50 in the team's eighth annual Education Day on Wednesday morning. The crowd of 4,009 at Stable Arena was the third largest crowd to attend a Lehigh women's home game. Senior Quinci Mann led all scorers with 15 points on 6-for-11 shooting. Sophomore Gena Grundhoffer scored 12 points to go with six rebounds, sophomore Camryn Buhr added seven points and six rebounds, and freshman Mariah Sexe collected seven points and five rebounds. Senior Mae Williams tied her career-high with a team-leading seven rebounds, and Bernadette Devaney also chipped in eight points. The Mountain Hawks shot 48.1 percent (25-for-52) from the field and held NJIT to 34.5 percent overall and just 2-for-11 from three-point range. Lehigh (6-4) also outscored the Highlanders (0-9) 36-22 in the paint and 15-0 in transition.
Ten different players scored points for the Brown and White in the game, while the team registered a season-high six blocks.
"When we executed our stuff and took care of the ball we had good shots, played unselfishly and distributed the ball well," said head coach Sue Troyan. "It was just the inconsistency of doing that for 40 minutes. We had too many turnovers and were lackadaisical at times with the basketball; that's the frustrating part."
Despite holding a lead for over 11 minutes, Lehigh struggled through the first half, turning the ball over 11 times with NJIT collecting four steals.
NJIT jumped out to an early 9-6 lead at the first media timeout. Cameryn Benz hit a baseline jumper and then came down with a block on the defensive end, leading to a transition basket by Hedstrom to knot it up 14-14 with 1:16 left in the first. NJIT then collected an offensive rebound and put back as time expired on the quarter to take a 16-14 lead after one.
Sexe completed a three-point play with a hoop and free throw after drawing a foul to give Lehigh a 17-16 lead in the opening moments of the second quarter. Mann then added a three-pointer to make it 20-16 before the Highlanders battled back to tie the game at 24 at the 4:02 mark, before Devaney responded with a triple from the corner to make it 27-24. Lehigh built its largest lead of the half at seven with 1:03 to go following two free throws by Devaney to make it 33-26. A three-point play for the Highlanders, followed by two free throws cut the deficit to 33-31 going into the locker room. Sexe had five points and all five of her rebounds in a solid opening half to help lead Lehigh.
"Mariah played really well for us in the first half," Troyan said. "She gave us some good minutes and is just a strong post who is going to rebound and defend for you."
Lehigh started the second half with a surge, opening the frame on a 13-2 run to take control.
"I challenged them, honestly, on both ends of the floor," Troyan said. "We had to handle the ball better and make better decisions with the basketball and play with a higher level of intensity on defense. I thought we did a really good job in the third quarter coming up on the defensive end, really contesting shots and not giving them anything easy."
Buhr added a three-point play with a hoop and foul to make it 42-31 just under three minutes in. Mann and Grundhoffer scored two points each to get the lead to 13 with just under six minutes to go, and NJIT would get no closer than eight points the rest of the way as Lehigh held a 51-41 lead after three quarters.
Grundhoffer got the lead to 15 for the first time with a jumper in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. After the Highlanders got to within 11 with 7:04 to play, Lehigh rattled off eight straight over the next two and a half minutes courtesy of a fast break bucket by Williams, back-to-back layups from Meagan Eripret and a transition lay-in from Mann to open it up to a game-high 19 point, 64-45 lead with 4:30 left. NJIT would add five points in the final two minutes to cap the scoring.
"I was really impressed with how Mae (Williams) went in there in the fourth quarter and gave us some good minutes," Troyan said. "She defended well inside and did a nice job finishing inside as well.
"I'm really appreciative of our administrative staff for putting on this event," Troyan said of Education Day. "We started with about 1,000 kids and it's grown to about 4,000. You don't always get to play in front of a crowd that's this loud or into it so it's a special day for our players."
Like Lehigh women's basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Team Stats
NJIT
LEHIGH
FG%
.345
.481
3FG%
.182
.176
FT%
.615
.611
RB
27
45
TO
11
17
STL
7
4
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
15
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
12
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
8
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
C
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballF
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