Lehigh Holds Off Lafayette 69-60 on Senior Day

Saturday, February 18

Stabler Arena

2 p.m.

Lehigh University

9-17, 4-11PL

Lafayette

2-25, 1-14PL

Lafayette

Lehigh

Lehigh Holds Off Lafayette 69-60 on Senior Day

2/18/2017 7:52:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Three Mountain Hawks scored in double figures on Saturday as the Lehigh women's basketball team held off Lafayette for a 69-60 win on Senior Day, presented by Yianni's Taverna. Junior Quinci Mann led Lehigh with 20 points, freshman Gena Grundhoffer scored 15 and junior Bernadette Devaney added 10 points. Freshman Camryn Buhr added eight points and a game-high eight rebounds, and Hannah Hedstrom totaled five points and five assists. For Lafayette, Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby scored a game-high 21 points and Olivia Gumbs added 13 points and seven rebounds. Lehigh (42.3 percent) edged out the Leopards (42.2 percent) in field goal percentage, and the Mountain Hawks shot 37.5 percent from three-point range, including a 43 percent clip in the first half. Lehigh also won the battle on the boards, outrebounding Lafayette 30-26. Lehigh improves to 9-17 (4-11 PL), while the Leopards now sit at 2-25 (1-14 PL) on the season.

"It was an important game in terms of where we were coming off one of our worst performances of the year at Navy," said head coach Sue Troyan. "To bounce back and get this win was an important win, but also important for our seniors."

Prior to the game, Lehigh honored its three seniors from the Class of 2017, Kiernan McCloskey, Kari Moffat and Kayla Burton, all of whom were in the starting lineup.

"They are three exceptional young women," Troyan said. "They've been though very different, but difficult experiences at Lehigh and they've all handled it extremely well with a lot of maturity, grace and humility, and have served as great role models for the younger kids for our program.

"We've talked a lot about how you don't remember the basketball as much as you remember the friendships and experiences, but I do think you remember your senior night game, and that's why we thought it was important to have our seniors be a part of it," Troyan said. "I'm glad we could work it out with the initial tip play where we got them involved."

After a jumper by Buhr put Lehigh on top 7-5 just over four minutes in, the Leopards ran off five quick points to take a 10-7 lead. From there, Lehigh scored its next 18 points off six three-pointers, spanning the remainder of the first quarter and the first six minutes of the second quarter. Mann, Hailey Pascoe and Cameryn Benz hit triples to help Lehigh close the first quarter on a 9-1 run and take a 16-11 lead into the second.

After Lafayette got within three to begin the second, Mann hit her second of three triples on the game, with Devaney and Grundhoffer following with threes of their own to up the Lehigh advantage to 25-15 and capping an 18-5 run. Lehigh would go quiet for the next four minutes as Lafayette cut the lead down to four, but Grundhoffer hit three straight free throws to make it 28-21 with 3:17 left until halftime. Hedstrom got the lead back to double digits with a three of her own, and Mann answered six straight Lafayette points with a free throw to help Lehigh take a 32-29 lead into halftime.

The Leopards outshot Lehigh in the first half, going 11-for-25 overall (44 percent) through the first 20 minutes, as Gumbs and Ottewill-Soulsby had nine points apiece. Lehigh shot an even 40 percent (10-for-25) in the opening half and 43.8 percent (7-for-16) from three-point range, while the two teams combined for 13 turnovers and no steals.

Both teams struggled from the field in the third quarter as Lehigh cooled down to shoot 5-for-17 in the period to Lafayette's 3-for-12. Lehigh also missed all five of their three-point attempts as Lafayette was able to close the gap to just three at 34-31 in the first two minutes of the third. Two free throws from Grundhoffer got the lead back to 10 coming out of the under-five media timeout, and a Buhr jumper at the 4:05 mark gave Lehigh its largest lead of the game at 46-34. The Mountain Hawks then countered a Lafayette three-pointer with a huge block by Devaney, which turned into a coast-to-coast layup for Hedstrom with 2:54 on the clock. Six straight from the Leopards made it a five-point game with one minute to go before Benz hit two free throws to give Lehigh a seven point, 50-43 lead entering the fourth quarter.

The Leopards clawed back and were able to get within two at 58-56 by the midway point of the fourth quarter. Devaney and Mann used two straight jumpers to get the lead back to six, before the same duo combined for seven straight points, including a three-point hoop and free throw from Devaney to push the lead to seven, 64-58 with 1:44 remaining. Mann took advantage of a Lafayette turnover by sinking a jumper to make it a nine-point game with just over a minute remaining. Devaney then iced the game away with two free throws in the final minute to grow the lead to 11, as Lehigh would hold on for the 69-60 win.

"It's basically a pretty young team, and for a young team to play the way they did today and get a win for their seniors, it just speaks to the impact the seniors have had on them," Troyan said.

Up next for the Mountain Hawks will be a trip to Hamilton, N.Y. on Wednesday to face Colgate. Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m. on the PatriotLeague.TV and Lehighsports.com/watch.

Like Lehigh women's basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.