Mountain Hawks Shut Down By Bucknell - Second Consecutive League Loss

Wednesday, January 16

Lewisburg, Pa.

6 P.M.

Lehigh University

11-5

Bucknell

13-4

Lehigh

Bucknell

Photo by: Hunter Julius

Mountain Hawks Shut Down By Bucknell - Second Consecutive League Loss

1/16/2019 11:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score PHOTO GALLERY

LEWISBURG, Pa – The Lehigh women's basketball team suffered its second straight loss in Patriot League play as they were vanquished by the Bucknell Bison 71-53 at the Sojka Pavilion.

The Mountain Hawks move to 11-5 overall and 3-2 in league play while the Bison advance to 13-4 overall and 4-1 in league play.

Along with it being the first time this season that the Mountain Hawks have had constitutive losses, tonight was also the first time that Lehigh featured no players in double figures in scoring.

Junior Camryn Buhr was the leading scorer with nine points against Bucknell with fellow junior Cameryn Benz one point away with eight on the night. Benz was also the leading rebounder, bringing in eight rebounds against Bucknell.

The past two games have seen the Mountain Hawks struggle immensely in the first quarter, with Lehigh scoring two points against Boston University last Saturday and three points all on free throws against Bucknell. In total, Lehigh has gone 1-for-26 from the field in the first quarter during its two game skid.

Very similar to their meeting with the Terriers, Bucknell struck quickly, going on a 9-0 run that would be momentarily halted by junior Gena Grundhoffer sinking a pair of free throws with 5:04 left in the first quarter. Freshman Clair Steele made a free throw with 3:59 remaining for the third and final point of the first quarter for the Mountain Hawks.

"In both games we've struggled to get out of the gates well and score baskets in the first quarter. This is affecting our entire squad, it's not just the starting five, it's the people coming off the bench as well. We have to get back into our rhythm and find our confidence offensively," said head coach Sue Troyan after the loss to Bucknell.

Once again drawing parallels to their meeting with Boston U., it would be the second quarter that Lehigh got the engine going. Their best scoring quarter of the game, the Mountain Hawks rushed in 18 points starting with a layup from Benz at the 8:29 mark

Nifty layup from Benz for the first field goal of the game for the Mountain Hawks pic.twitter.com/dr6cTfdYsD
— Lehigh W. Basketball (@LehighWBB) January 16, 2019

That layup would give Lehigh its first scoring run of the game, cumulating in an 8-4 run to get them over 10 points for the first time. With just over six minutes, Lehigh would catch fire once more, going on an 8-2 run that saw sophomore Mary Clougherty drop four of those points including a one-handed jumper to kick start the drive.

Clougherty finding space to break out the skyhook pic.twitter.com/gqOKvoI2HP
— Lehigh W. Basketball (@LehighWBB) January 16, 2019

Although not the best differential, Lehigh would only be down 35-21 after the first half of action.

Lehigh would continue to fight valiantly in the third, cutting the lead down to single digits late in the third off layups from Benz and freshman Megan Walker before Buhr converted her only 3-pointer of the game to cap off a 7-0 run for Lehigh to make the score 43-34 with 3:17 left in the third. The Mountain Hawks would continue to push the Bison in the fourth, tying them with 17 points scored in that quarter, but the damage would have been inflicted already. Bucknell would see its biggest lead of the game come with 7:53 left as they led the Mountain Hawks by 21.

Lehigh will be able to regroup and settle in as it will play six of the next seven games at the friendly confines of Stabler Arena starting with hosting American University on January 19 as part of a doubleheader with the men, who will be hosting Bucknell later that night,

"We've got to mature enough regardless of if we're home or away. You take every game as a precious thing and you have to be mentally ready. With a team full of upperclassmen, my expectation is that they should be ready whether we play home or away," said Troyan. "It is nice that we play six of our next seven at home and we've played a tough part of our schedule. We're going to have another big game against American on Saturday so we've got to make some adjustments for that one."

Fans looking to purchase tickets to see the Mountain Hawks take on the American Eagles can purchase them online at LehighTickets.com or by calling 610-7LU-GAME during business hours.