Saturday, February 11
Stabler Arena
2 p.m.
Lehigh University
8-16, 3-10PL
80
vs
64
Holy Cross
6-18, 4-9PL
1
2
3
4
F
Holy Cross
11
19
19
15
64
Lehigh
19
20
20
21
80
Lehigh Triumphs over Holy Cross 80-64 in Strong League Win
2/11/2017 5:15:00 PM | Women's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh women's basketball team used one of its best shooting days of the season on Saturday afternoon to power past Holy Cross 80-64 at Stabler Arena. Junior Quinci Mann had a game-high 23 points with four three-pointers, and freshman Gena Grundhoffer had a career-high 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting (2-for-2 from three-point range), marking the first time Lehigh has had two 20+ point scorers since Nov. 25, 2015. Freshman Camryn Buhr netted 13 points, a game-high eight rebounds and was 4-for-7 from the field. Buhr also had a game and career-high five assists. Freshman Hannah Hedstrom had eight points and five rebounds and both Bernadette Devaney and Mae Williams added five points apiece. Tricia Byrne led the Crusaders with 18 points, along with Lauren Manis and Infiniti-Thomas-Waheed who had 16 points apiece. The win moves Lehigh to 8-16 (3-10 PL) on the season, while Holy Cross falls to 6-18 (4-9 PL).
Lehigh finished the game shooting a season-best 52.1 percent from the field, and shot an even 50 percent from three-point range, their second highest total of the season. The Mountain Hawk's defense held Holy Cross to just 35.5 percent from the floor and 31.6 percent from three-point range. Lehigh also tied its season high with 16 assists and outrebounded the Crusaders 36-28.
"I thought they did a great job of sharing the basketball today," said head coach Sue Troyan. "That was a real point of emphasis yesterday in the scout and prep for this game. We went into this game with a focus on sharing the basketball and taking high percentage shots. We took good shots and that was one of the reasons why we got off to a quick start. We were patient with the ball and worked to get it to the open person."
Lehigh started the game fast, going 3-for-3 over the first 2:25 to build a 7-0 lead. Mann drew a charge on the defensive end before hitting a three-pointer to open the scoring. Grundhoffer sank a baseline jumper and Buhr put in a layup underneath to put LU on top 7-0, forcing a Crusader timeout. Williams sank a pair from the free throw line to make it 9-2, and later stepped up and drained a three from the left side to put Lehigh on top 12-4.
After the Crusaders got within six points, Buhr scored four unanswered off a layup and two free throws to put LU back up 19-9. Thomas-Waheed added a jumper for HC in the final minute as Lehigh held a 19-11 lead after one quarter.
Lehigh went up by 12 early in the second following back-to-back threes from Devaney and Grundhoffer and eventually built up a 13-point edge at 29-16 following a Benz free throw with 5:49 mark. Holy Cross responded with a 10-0 run over the next 1:48 to get within 29-26, highlighted by back-to-back threes from Byrne and Kathryn Pedi. However, the Mountain Hawks had the answer, going on a 9-0 run of their own to go back up 38-26. Devaney started the run with two free throws, Mann tacked on another three-pointer and Grundhoffer and Hedstrom put in two points apiece to get the lead back to double digits. All told, Lehigh ended the half on a 10-4 run to take a 39-20 lead into the break.
"That's poise," Troyan said. "And hopefully a little bit of growth and improvement too with young kids settling in and knowing what they're capable of doing and having some confidence."
Lehigh shot 47.8 percent in the opening half and 54.5 percent from beyond the arc, including hitting four of their six three-point attempts in the second quarter. Mann had nine points at the half on 3-of-4 from long range, Grundhoffer had seven points on 3-of-4 shooting and Buhr added six points.
"Gena played really well, one of her best games of the year," Troyan said. "She went against one of the best freshman posts in the league. It will be fun to watch the two of them battle against each other over the next four years. As good as she was on the offensive end I thought she was just as good on the defensive end. She got Manis in foul trouble and frustrated her a little bit, and did a good job taking her out of the game."
Grundhoffer and Mann ran off the first five points of the third quarter to build up a 14-point lead and Buhr got the lead up to 15 for the first time with a three-pointer at the 6:38 mark. Mann hit another triple just before the media timeout to get the lead back to 15, as the Mountain Hawks would keep the lead in double figures for the rest of the quarter. Hedstrom hit one from long range at the 2:41 to make it a 14-point lead, before a Holy Cross run brought the lead down to just 10 heading into the fourth at 59-49.
The Crusaders would get to within eight following a layup by Thomas-Waheed in the opening seconds of the fourth, but the Mountain Hawks once again had an answer, running off 11 straight points, highlighted by seven from Mann and two from Hedstrom and Grundhoffer to build the lead back to 19 points at 70-51 with 6:59 left. The Crusaders got no closer than 13 points the rest of the way, as Lehigh was able to get the advantage back up to 19 once again in the final two minutes after a pair of free throws from Grundhoffer and Mann. Meagan Eripret put an exclamation point on the victory with a long jumper to beat the shot clock in the closing seconds to bring the final to 80-64.
"This was an important game for us in terms of rebounding," Troyan said. "They executed that well and again, hopefully it can give us some confidence and some momentum going into these last five games."
Up next for Lehigh will be a trip to Annapolis, Md. to take on Navy on Wednesday night. Coverage will be available at PatriotLeague.TV and Lehighsports.com/watch.
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Team Stats
HC
LEHIGH
FG%
.355
.521
3FG%
.316
.500
FT%
.824
.800
RB
28
36
TO
13
17
STL
7
5
Game Leaders
Pts
23
FGM
8
3FGM
4
FTM
3
Pts
20
FGM
7
3FGM
2
FTM
4
Pts
13
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
8
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
F
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