Thursday, January 3
Easton, Pa.
7 P.M.

Lehigh University

9-3;1-0

70
at
43

Lafayette

5-7; 0-1

1
2
3
4
F
Lehigh
15
22
17
16
70
Lafayette
6
10
13
14
43

Mountain Hawks Roll 'Pards in 94th Meeting Of The Rivalry

1/3/2019 10:42:00 PM | Women's Basketball

EASTON, Pa. – The Lehigh women's basketball team set a program record as it dispatched the Lafayette Leopards 70-43 at the Kirby Sports Center for the seventh consecutive time.
 
Having won six straight against Lafayette on three different occasions, this marks the first seven-game winning streak in Lehigh women's basketball history. To go along with that impressive feat, the men defeated Lafayette 86-83 on Wednesday, making it the first time in school history that both the men and women have had seven-game winning streaks against Lafayette at the same time.

With the win, Lehigh moves to 9-3 overall and 1-0 in the Patriot League. Lafayette drops to 5-7 overall and starts Patriot league play 0-1.
 
"Tonight was challenging with coming off of playing Notre Dame and having the first Patriot League game being Lafayette. I was pleased with how we responded coming off that big game, and I thought everyone did a great job of staying focused and staying composed," said head coach Sue Troyan. "We talked about starting off establishing ourselves on the defensive end, limiting easy looks for Lafayette and that helped us establish ourselves on the offensive side as well."
 
The Mountain Hawks saw three players reach double-figures in scoring against Lafayette, something that has happened in 11 games on the year now. Juniors Camryn Buhr and Genna Grundhoffer both dropped 13 points along with freshman Clair Steele recording the first double-figure scoring night of her career, finishing with a career-high 11 points.

Along with her 13 points, Buhr also recorded 10 rebounds, giving her two double-doubles on the year, tying freshman Emma Grothaus for the most on the team this season.
 
"I love Clair's play on both ends of the floor. She gives us a difference in what she brings as a point guard and complements the play of Hannah Hedstrom as well," said Troyan. "Clair has the ability to score deep on the perimeter and has a deep scoring range".
 
Much like most nights Lehigh once again saw its bench carry the torch when needed, with 26 points coming from the reserves. This is the ninth time this season the Mountain Hawks have seen their bench score 25 or more points.
 
From the opening tip-off, the Mountain Hawks were off and running and wouldn't look back once, leading for the entirety of the contest. Lehigh has now had six games where it has not trailed its opponent.
 
Lehigh began the game riding a 9-2 run, seeing the first four points come from Buhr off of back-to-back layups. Grundhoffer would make it 6-0 at the 6:53 mark on yet another Lehigh layup before Lafayette would see its first points flicker on the scoreboard. Senior Hailey Pascoe would sink a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 9-2 with 5:51 remaining. The Mountain Hawks would see their lead expand to as much as 10 points in the first frame, ending with a 15-6 lead setting up an explosive second quarter.
 
Starting up a 22-point quarter, Lehigh went on a 14-5 run in the first five minutes of play, seeing Buhr drop in four more points during that stretch along with Steele chipping in five points of her own. By the time the horn sounded for halftime, Lehigh would control a 21-point edge over Lafayette. '

The third quarter was yet another frame of dominance from the Brown and White, as the Mountain Hawks added 17 more points along with nine off of turnovers. The defense was also on full force from Lehigh, as it wasn't until less than six minutes were left in the third that the Leopards cracked 20 points on the night.

"Our defense is going to be one of the keys to success for us this season. We have a very complete team that is versatile scoring and in the Patriot League, you have to start strong on the defensive end," said Troyan.
 
The final frame saw the Mountain Hawks move their lead to 29 points, the largest lead they held against Lafayette.
 
Lehigh concludes its three-game road swing on Saturday, as the Mountain Hawks travel to Annapolis, Maryland to battle the Midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy at 3:30 p.m.
 
 
 
 
 
Chasing 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