Wednesday, March 1
Stabler Arena
7 p.m.
Lehigh University
10-19, 5-13PL
83
vs
74
Colgate
10-19, 7-11PL
1
2
3
4
F
Colgate
17
22
14
21
74
Lehigh
23
19
19
22
83
Strong Team Shooting Leads Lehigh Past Colgate in Regular Season Finale
3/1/2017 10:48:00 PM | Women's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh women's basketball team used its best shooting performance of the season to pull away from Colgate for an 83-74 win in Wednesday's regular season finale at Stabler Arena. Junior Quinci Mann had 19 points and seven rebounds, freshman Gena Grundhoffer had 17 points, nine rebounds and a career-high seven assists, and sophomore Hailey Pascoe scored 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting with three three-pointers. Junior Bernadette Devaney tied her career-high with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including 3-of-4 from three-point range, and freshman Camryn Buhr had nine points and three rebounds on 4-of-5 from the field. The balanced team effort helped the Mountain Hawks to a season-best field goal percentage of 53.6 percent (30-for-56) and a three-point field goal percentage of 52.4 percent (11-for-21). Lehigh (10-19, 5-13 PL) also tied a season-high with 16 assists and outrebounded the Raiders 35-32.
Colgate freshman Rachel Thompson led all scorers with 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting. The Raiders (10-19, 7-11 PL) shot 41.3 percent from the field, but only 2-of-13 from downtown. Colgate held advantages of 34-30 in the paint, 28-18 in points off turnovers, 13-4 in second chance points and 12-0 on the break.
"We knew the weak side looks were going to be there, and it was a matter of knocking down the open looks," said head coach Sue Troyan. "I thought our kids were disciplined with taking good shots and not settling all the time for threes. We were patient in the offense in kicking it out and did a nice job of sharing the ball."
The lead changed hands 10 times throughout the evening, but Lehigh held the advantage for most of the first quarter, jumping out to a quick 6-2 lead. After a layup and free throw by Mylah Chandler, Grundhoffer gave LU the lead back with a layup, and Mann and Pascoe drained back-to-back threes to put Lehigh up 13-7 with 3:50 remaining in the first quarter. Devaney and Pascoe later ended the quarter with consecutive three-pointers, sandwiched around a Colgate triple to help Lehigh hold a 23-17 lead after one.
Colgate stormed out in front to begin the second quarter with a 10-1 run to take a 27-24 lead with 7:39 until halftime. Kayla Burton knotted the game with a three-pointer, and Mann answered a Colgate bucket with a triple of her own to put Lehigh back up by one. Colgate would go back up 33-30, before Buhr hit Lehigh's third straight triple to knot the game at 33 with 5:05 left. Mae Williams continued the saw-saw quarter with a layup to put Lehigh back up 38-37 and Pascoe put Lehigh back on top for good with a jumper with 1:23 remaining. Devaney beat the halftime buzzer with a layup with two seconds left to give Lehigh to a 42-39 going into the locker room.
Buhr and Mann both opened the third with two quick baskets to grow the lead to seven, before Thompson scored five straight to cut the deficit down to two. Lehigh would get the lead back to seven with a Grundhoffer layup at the 5:26 mark, but a three-pointer by Kateri Stone helped Colgate get back within two, before a Grundhoffer layup gave Lehigh a 55-51 lead going into the media timeout. Mann, Grundhoffer, and Pascoe all tallied layups to close the quarter with a 6-0 run to carry an eight point, 61-53 lead into the fourth quarter.
Pascoe opened the final frame with a three to grow the lead to double digits for the first time, and Williams and Mann followed with two straight jumpers to grow the lead to 13. Devaney sank two straight threes as part of eight straight Lehigh points to give LU a 76-62 edge with 4:18 left, before the Raiders cut into the lead and got within seven with just over a minute remaining.
"I look at two great sixth mans who could easily be starting in our lineup," Troyan said of Devaney and Pascoe. "Both of them bring a punch on the offensive end with their three-point shooting ability and I like bringing that off the bench for our team. I thought they both played really well and were disciplined in taking good shots. They're going to be important as we make this run through the tournament."
Mann and Williams each hit one free throw after consecutive Colgate fouls with just under 30 seconds on the clock to make it 81-72. The Raiders hit two from the charity stripe to get back within seven with 12 seconds left, before Mann capped the scoring with a pair of free throws in the closing seconds to put the game away at 83-74.
"I think this was an important game to get just in terms of confidence and riding a little bit of momentum going into the tournament," Troyan said. "This season has had a lot of ups and downs and certainly for a younger team, it's important to get some confidence and a win under our belt and to carrying that into the game with Loyola."
With the regular season now in the books, the Mountain Hawks will set their sights on the Patriot League Tournament. Lehigh will travel to Loyola for their first round game at 7 p.m. on Saturday. Live broadcasts will be available on PatriotLeague.TV and on ESPN Radio 1160/1230/1320 AM.
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Team Stats
COLGATE
LEHIGH
FG%
.413
.536
3FG%
.154
.524
FT%
.769
.667
RB
32
35
TO
16
19
STL
12
6
Game Leaders
Pts
19
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
4
Pts
17
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
7
Pts
15
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
F
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