Thursday, January 11
Bethlehem, Pa.
6 p.m.
Lehigh University
10-6, 4-1PL
66
vs
62
Bucknell
9-7, 3-2PL
1
2
3
4
F
Bucknell
14
14
17
17
62
Lehigh
16
5
25
20
66
Mann’s Huge Second Half Sends Lehigh Past Bucknell 66-62
1/11/2018 9:38:00 PM | Women's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Quinci Mann scored 25 of her career-high 27 points in the second half to help spur the Mountain Hawks to a 66-62 win over Bucknell on Thursday night at Stabler Arena in a game presented by Ready Nutrition. Mann was 8-for-16 from the field, 3-for-4 from downtown and a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line in the game, scoring the team's final eight points in the closing 2:26 to ice the game away. Sophomore Camryn Benz chipped in 13 points and five rebounds on 6-of-10 shooting, Gena Grundhoffer tallied nine points and Camryn Buhr scored eight with a team-high seven rebounds. The win moves Lehigh (10-6, 4-1 PL) into sole possession of second place in the Patriot League, with a showdown coming up this Sunday at first place American.
Despite Bucknell (9-7, 3-2 PL) outrebounding the Mountain Hawks 43-25, including 17-4 on the offensive glass, LU shot 65.2 percent from the floor in the second half, finishing 23-for-52 (44.2 percent) for the game and a season-best 58.3 percent (7-for-12) from three-point range, including 5-for-5 in the second half. Lehigh also sank 13 of their 15 free throw attempts.
"Quinci did exactly what you want a senior all-league guard to do," said head coach Sue Troyan. "She has taken a little bit of a backseat to what we've asked her to do in the past, when she had the ball in her hands a lot and was asked to shoot a lot more than she has this year. This was a game where we needed her to step up and take those shots, and she wants the ball in those moments. Every critical situation where we needed a basket it seemed like she stepped up and made the shot."
Bucknell led for most of the opening quarter until Mariah Sexe connected on a three-pointer to tie the game with 1:23 left, then Buhr added a layup in the final minute to take 16-14 lead after one.
Lehigh followed with a bad second quarter, shooting just 2-for-14 in the frame and missing nine straight shots as Bucknell outscored Lehigh 14-5. Benz opened the second quarter to increase Lehigh's run to 7-0 and give them an 18-14 lead. Lehigh then went cold from the floor as Bucknell ripped off 14 straight points to go up 28-18. Hedstrom broke the spell with a free throw with 1:31 remaining, and Meagan Eripret got a putback basket just ahead of the horn to make it 28-21 going into the half.
Lehigh bounced back and shot 8-for-11 (72.7 percent) in the third quarter, taking the lead for good at the 3:50 mark of the period. After Bucknell opened the frame with five straight, Lehigh rattled off 12 unanswered to tie it at 33-33, courtesy of seven points from Mann and five from Grundhoffer. After trading buckets for the next two minutes, Benz put Lehigh up with a layup, and Mann followed with a trey to make it 42-38 and cap a 21-5 LU run. Mann tacked on two free throws and Buhr hit a layup in the final minute to help LU hold a 46-45 lead entering the fourth.
"They're a team that can turn you over so I thought we did a good job in the first half of taking care of the basketball, which is probably why it was only a seven point deficit at the half," Troyan said. "We made some adjustments in terms of the offense we were running and just attacking some of their weaknesses and mismatches. In the first half we just did our own thing and didn't read the switches and things like that. We tried to put Slagus in a lot of mismatch situations and that's where Quinci took advantage. It felt like if we executed and looked for the opportunities that were there, we would get good shots and we did a much better job of that in the third quarter."
Mann opened the fourth with a triple and after a Bison basket, Benz netted three straight buckets to give Lehigh its largest lead of the game, 55-46 with 7:07 left. After the lead was cut to five, Benz sank a big three-pointer and Mann followed with a layup to grow the lead back to nine, 60-51, with 2:26 left.
Two Bison free throws made it 60-57 with 46 seconds left before Mann calm sank two from the charity stripe to make it 62-57. A Bucknell three-pointer made it 62-60 with 33 seconds to go, before Mann dribbled away the time and hit a big jumper in the paint with eight seconds left. Following another Bison basket, Mann closed the game with two more free throws to secure the 66-62 final.
"We've protected our home court very well," Troyan said. "We've struggled a little bit on the road so we have to take confidence from this and be able to go on the road and play and execute. This is the type of game you are going to see almost every night. The general sense has been it is going to be tough to win on the road in our league so we have to take the confidence of being successful at home and take it on the road. We're going to see a really good American team and we have to prepare for that."
Up next, Lehigh will head out on the road for two straight games, beginning on Sunday afternoon at first place American. The game will be streamed live at 3 p.m. at PatriotLeague.TV and a live Lehigh audio broadcast will be available at Lehighsports.com/watch.
Like Lehigh women's basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Despite Bucknell (9-7, 3-2 PL) outrebounding the Mountain Hawks 43-25, including 17-4 on the offensive glass, LU shot 65.2 percent from the floor in the second half, finishing 23-for-52 (44.2 percent) for the game and a season-best 58.3 percent (7-for-12) from three-point range, including 5-for-5 in the second half. Lehigh also sank 13 of their 15 free throw attempts.
"Quinci did exactly what you want a senior all-league guard to do," said head coach Sue Troyan. "She has taken a little bit of a backseat to what we've asked her to do in the past, when she had the ball in her hands a lot and was asked to shoot a lot more than she has this year. This was a game where we needed her to step up and take those shots, and she wants the ball in those moments. Every critical situation where we needed a basket it seemed like she stepped up and made the shot."
Bucknell led for most of the opening quarter until Mariah Sexe connected on a three-pointer to tie the game with 1:23 left, then Buhr added a layup in the final minute to take 16-14 lead after one.
Lehigh followed with a bad second quarter, shooting just 2-for-14 in the frame and missing nine straight shots as Bucknell outscored Lehigh 14-5. Benz opened the second quarter to increase Lehigh's run to 7-0 and give them an 18-14 lead. Lehigh then went cold from the floor as Bucknell ripped off 14 straight points to go up 28-18. Hedstrom broke the spell with a free throw with 1:31 remaining, and Meagan Eripret got a putback basket just ahead of the horn to make it 28-21 going into the half.
Lehigh bounced back and shot 8-for-11 (72.7 percent) in the third quarter, taking the lead for good at the 3:50 mark of the period. After Bucknell opened the frame with five straight, Lehigh rattled off 12 unanswered to tie it at 33-33, courtesy of seven points from Mann and five from Grundhoffer. After trading buckets for the next two minutes, Benz put Lehigh up with a layup, and Mann followed with a trey to make it 42-38 and cap a 21-5 LU run. Mann tacked on two free throws and Buhr hit a layup in the final minute to help LU hold a 46-45 lead entering the fourth.
"They're a team that can turn you over so I thought we did a good job in the first half of taking care of the basketball, which is probably why it was only a seven point deficit at the half," Troyan said. "We made some adjustments in terms of the offense we were running and just attacking some of their weaknesses and mismatches. In the first half we just did our own thing and didn't read the switches and things like that. We tried to put Slagus in a lot of mismatch situations and that's where Quinci took advantage. It felt like if we executed and looked for the opportunities that were there, we would get good shots and we did a much better job of that in the third quarter."
Mann opened the fourth with a triple and after a Bison basket, Benz netted three straight buckets to give Lehigh its largest lead of the game, 55-46 with 7:07 left. After the lead was cut to five, Benz sank a big three-pointer and Mann followed with a layup to grow the lead back to nine, 60-51, with 2:26 left.
Two Bison free throws made it 60-57 with 46 seconds left before Mann calm sank two from the charity stripe to make it 62-57. A Bucknell three-pointer made it 62-60 with 33 seconds to go, before Mann dribbled away the time and hit a big jumper in the paint with eight seconds left. Following another Bison basket, Mann closed the game with two more free throws to secure the 66-62 final.
"We've protected our home court very well," Troyan said. "We've struggled a little bit on the road so we have to take confidence from this and be able to go on the road and play and execute. This is the type of game you are going to see almost every night. The general sense has been it is going to be tough to win on the road in our league so we have to take the confidence of being successful at home and take it on the road. We're going to see a really good American team and we have to prepare for that."
Up next, Lehigh will head out on the road for two straight games, beginning on Sunday afternoon at first place American. The game will be streamed live at 3 p.m. at PatriotLeague.TV and a live Lehigh audio broadcast will be available at Lehighsports.com/watch.
Like Lehigh women's basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Team Stats
BUCKNELL
LEHIGH
FG%
.410
.442
3FG%
.231
.583
FT%
.643
.867
RB
43
25
TO
16
11
STL
3
5
Game Leaders
Pts
27
FGM
8
3FGM
3
FTM
8
Pts
13
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballLehigh Sports Central: Women's Basketball
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Season Preview - Women's Basketball
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Chasing Greatness: The Road to the Patriot League Title - Part 1
Wednesday, May 14
