Sunday, December 30
South Bend, Ind.
1 P.M.
Lehigh University
8-3
68
at
95
Notre Dame
12-1
1
2
3
4
F
Lehigh
19
12
17
20
68
Notre Dame
20
26
30
19
95
Photo by: Hunter Julius
Mountain Hawks Early Success Not Enough Against Notre Dame, McGraw Earns 900th Win
12/30/2018 8:25:00 PM | Women's Basketball
SOUTH BEND, IND. – The Lehigh women's basketball team fell to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at the Purcell Pavilion 95-68 Sunday afternoon.
Lehigh will end non-league play with a record of 8-3, while Notre Dame moves to 12-1 with the win.
Although suffering a loss is never anything to write about, the Mountain Hawks were a part of history; as former Lehigh head coach and current Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw recorded her 900th career win as a head coach. McGraw is the fourth fastest coach in all of Division. 1 basketball (men's and women's) to get to 900 victories, as she joins Geno Auriemma, Pat Summit and Tara VanDerveer. McGraw collected 88 of her 900 wins at Lehigh, where she coached the Mountain Hawks from 1982-87.
"There are a lot of ties between the two schools. When I joined Lehigh as a graduate assistant, she had just left, so I had heard plenty about her. She's been a mentor for me, she's opened her doors in terms of coming to practices and coaches' meetings," said head coach Sue Troyan. "I try to make a trip out here when they're in the postseason, so I've come out here for a couple days and sit in on coaches' meetings and practices."
Notre Dame showed why it's ranked No. 2 in the nation; as it shot 61.4 percent from the field against the Mountain Hawks, a season-high for allowed opponent field goal percentage. Notre Dame would also get over half of its points from down low, scoring 54 points from the paint.
Sophomore Mary Clougherty led the Mountain Hawks in scoring with 14 points. She was one of four players to reach double figures in scoring as freshman Emma Grothaus (11), junior Camryn Buhr (11) and junior Gena Grundhoffer (10) were the other three Mountain Hawks to record double figures in scoring. This is the third time that Lehigh has seen four players reach double figures in scoring and marks the 10th time three or more players have reached that mark.
Lehigh got its bench involved throughout the game, as 30 points were chipped in from the reserves. This is the third highest on the season, with 37 points scored by the bench against Kutztown and 36 points scored against LIU Brooklyn from the bench.
Not getting dazzled by the big stage, the Mountain Hawks were a thorn in the side of the Irish, trailing Notre Dame by just one point. Although allowing the first basket, Lehigh came back in force soon after, as senior Hailey Pascoe drilled a 3-pointer off a pass from Buhr to give the Mountain Hawks their first lead of the game just under the nine-minute mark.
Going down 12-6 with just under four minutes, Lehigh would start to make strides, starting with a 3-pointer from Grundhoffer before she would release a jumper outside the paint for a mini five-point run. With the score moving to 20-13, Clougherty pulled up for a three with 25 seconds remaining before junior Hannah Hedstrom would be fouled on a late heave to the basket with four seconds left, setting up three free throws which would all be converted to make the score 20-19 after the first frame of action.
"We talked a lot going into the week about the importance starting the game strong and focused. I felt that coming into this game, we had one of the best weeks of practice this year, and that speaks to the maturity of our team. We had said that we needed to shoot well from three, and we did get good looks, but we didn't convert on enough of those chances. I was proud of we how we competed and represented Lehigh. We got a lot of compliments on how hard our kids played," said Troyan.
The Mountain Hawks continued to test the Irish in the second quarter, taking an early one-point lead on a Grundhoffer layup 30 seconds into the quarter. That lead wouldn't hold up for long, as three consecutive free throws for Notre Dame would give them the lead back. Lehigh would pull within two points after Grothaus drained a jumper in the paint to make it 25-23 with 8:45 remaining. After a 3-pointer from Buhr at 5:21, Lehigh would be held scoreless until the 3:26 mark with Grothaus making a layup.
The third quarter unfortunately, was where the Irish stepped up and took over the game, scoring 30 points compared to the 17 by Lehigh. Notre Dame would also hit an astronomical 71.4 percent of its shots, going 10-for-14 from the field and 3-for-4 from beyond the arc.
Initially going on a 4-1 run to begin the third quarter, Lehigh would interrupt the Irish on a deep jumper from Grundhoffer at 7:33. The next basket made by the Mountain Hawks wouldn't be until Buhr made a layup with 3:06 remaining to make it a 64-43 game, ending an 11-2 run from the Irish. Lehigh would end the quarter strong with freshmen Megan Walker and Clair Steele making back-to-back shots to end the third.
It wasn't until the fourth quarter that Lehigh was able to outscore Notre Dame, as the Mountain Hawks rallied off 20 points while the Irish scored 19. The Mountain Hawks would begin the quarter on a 7-2 run starting with Buhr hitting one-of-two free throws before coming back to make a layup within 30 seconds of each other for the first three points of the quarter.
Junior Cameryn Benz made a layup after Notre Dame hit a jump shot for its first two points of the quarter before Pascoe connected on a jumper in the paint at 8:11 in the fourth. Towards the end of the fourth quarter; Lehigh would get hot once more, as Clougherty hit a 3-pointer to kick-start an 8-0 run at 3:36 to make it an 88-62 game. Grothaus responded close to the three-minute mark with a layup before Clougherty would make a layup of her own and a free throw to close out the scoring run at 91-67.
The Mountain Hawks begin Patriot League play on January 3 at the Kirby Sports Center as they travel to Lafayette.
Like Lehigh women's basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Lehigh will end non-league play with a record of 8-3, while Notre Dame moves to 12-1 with the win.
Although suffering a loss is never anything to write about, the Mountain Hawks were a part of history; as former Lehigh head coach and current Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw recorded her 900th career win as a head coach. McGraw is the fourth fastest coach in all of Division. 1 basketball (men's and women's) to get to 900 victories, as she joins Geno Auriemma, Pat Summit and Tara VanDerveer. McGraw collected 88 of her 900 wins at Lehigh, where she coached the Mountain Hawks from 1982-87.
"There are a lot of ties between the two schools. When I joined Lehigh as a graduate assistant, she had just left, so I had heard plenty about her. She's been a mentor for me, she's opened her doors in terms of coming to practices and coaches' meetings," said head coach Sue Troyan. "I try to make a trip out here when they're in the postseason, so I've come out here for a couple days and sit in on coaches' meetings and practices."
Notre Dame showed why it's ranked No. 2 in the nation; as it shot 61.4 percent from the field against the Mountain Hawks, a season-high for allowed opponent field goal percentage. Notre Dame would also get over half of its points from down low, scoring 54 points from the paint.
Sophomore Mary Clougherty led the Mountain Hawks in scoring with 14 points. She was one of four players to reach double figures in scoring as freshman Emma Grothaus (11), junior Camryn Buhr (11) and junior Gena Grundhoffer (10) were the other three Mountain Hawks to record double figures in scoring. This is the third time that Lehigh has seen four players reach double figures in scoring and marks the 10th time three or more players have reached that mark.
Lehigh got its bench involved throughout the game, as 30 points were chipped in from the reserves. This is the third highest on the season, with 37 points scored by the bench against Kutztown and 36 points scored against LIU Brooklyn from the bench.
Not getting dazzled by the big stage, the Mountain Hawks were a thorn in the side of the Irish, trailing Notre Dame by just one point. Although allowing the first basket, Lehigh came back in force soon after, as senior Hailey Pascoe drilled a 3-pointer off a pass from Buhr to give the Mountain Hawks their first lead of the game just under the nine-minute mark.
Going down 12-6 with just under four minutes, Lehigh would start to make strides, starting with a 3-pointer from Grundhoffer before she would release a jumper outside the paint for a mini five-point run. With the score moving to 20-13, Clougherty pulled up for a three with 25 seconds remaining before junior Hannah Hedstrom would be fouled on a late heave to the basket with four seconds left, setting up three free throws which would all be converted to make the score 20-19 after the first frame of action.
"We talked a lot going into the week about the importance starting the game strong and focused. I felt that coming into this game, we had one of the best weeks of practice this year, and that speaks to the maturity of our team. We had said that we needed to shoot well from three, and we did get good looks, but we didn't convert on enough of those chances. I was proud of we how we competed and represented Lehigh. We got a lot of compliments on how hard our kids played," said Troyan.
The Mountain Hawks continued to test the Irish in the second quarter, taking an early one-point lead on a Grundhoffer layup 30 seconds into the quarter. That lead wouldn't hold up for long, as three consecutive free throws for Notre Dame would give them the lead back. Lehigh would pull within two points after Grothaus drained a jumper in the paint to make it 25-23 with 8:45 remaining. After a 3-pointer from Buhr at 5:21, Lehigh would be held scoreless until the 3:26 mark with Grothaus making a layup.
The third quarter unfortunately, was where the Irish stepped up and took over the game, scoring 30 points compared to the 17 by Lehigh. Notre Dame would also hit an astronomical 71.4 percent of its shots, going 10-for-14 from the field and 3-for-4 from beyond the arc.
Initially going on a 4-1 run to begin the third quarter, Lehigh would interrupt the Irish on a deep jumper from Grundhoffer at 7:33. The next basket made by the Mountain Hawks wouldn't be until Buhr made a layup with 3:06 remaining to make it a 64-43 game, ending an 11-2 run from the Irish. Lehigh would end the quarter strong with freshmen Megan Walker and Clair Steele making back-to-back shots to end the third.
It wasn't until the fourth quarter that Lehigh was able to outscore Notre Dame, as the Mountain Hawks rallied off 20 points while the Irish scored 19. The Mountain Hawks would begin the quarter on a 7-2 run starting with Buhr hitting one-of-two free throws before coming back to make a layup within 30 seconds of each other for the first three points of the quarter.
Junior Cameryn Benz made a layup after Notre Dame hit a jump shot for its first two points of the quarter before Pascoe connected on a jumper in the paint at 8:11 in the fourth. Towards the end of the fourth quarter; Lehigh would get hot once more, as Clougherty hit a 3-pointer to kick-start an 8-0 run at 3:36 to make it an 88-62 game. Grothaus responded close to the three-minute mark with a layup before Clougherty would make a layup of her own and a free throw to close out the scoring run at 91-67.
The Mountain Hawks begin Patriot League play on January 3 at the Kirby Sports Center as they travel to Lafayette.
Like Lehigh women's basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Team Stats
LEHIGH
ND
FG%
.400
.614
3FG%
.286
.455
FT%
.636
.833
RB
29
37
TO
20
17
STL
9
8
Game Leaders
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
1
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballChasing Greatness: The Road to the Patriot League Title - Part 2
Thursday, May 15
Chasing Greatness: The Road to the Patriot League Title - Part 1
Wednesday, May 14
Lehigh Sports Central: Women's Basketball
Wednesday, March 19
Lehigh Sports Central: Women's Basketball
Wednesday, January 29
