Saturday, November 30
Nassau, Bahamas
4 p.m.
Lehigh University
5-2,0-0Patriot
57
vs
59
Fordham
3-5,0-0Atlantic 10
1
2
3
4
F
Fordham
17
6
16
20
59
Lehigh
19
12
14
12
57
Photo by: Josh Liddick
Another buzzer-beater stuns Lehigh, 59-57 to Fordham
11/30/2019 8:59:00 PM | Women's Basketball
NASSAU, Bahamas — For the second straight game, the Lehigh women's basketball team fell on a last second shot, as Fordham put down a 3-point basket with 0.1 seconds left to stun the Mountain Hawks, 59-57 Saturday evening in Lehigh's finale of the Bahamas Hoopfest. With the defeat, Lehigh falls to 5-2 on the season and has fallen in two straight games after starting the 2019-20 season at 5-0.
Early in the first frame, the Mountain Hawks found themselves trailing after Fordham's 8-2 run. Mariah Sexe scored four of her eight first half points in the first few minutes of the first quarter of play, helping Lehigh get close to even with the Rams after falling behind early. Mary Clougherty's fastbreak jumper in the paint with 2:17 left to play gave Lehigh its first lead of the quarter, up 14-13. The Mountain Hawks used five points by Clair Steele in the minute off two shots at the line and a 3-pointer to take a 19-17 lead into the second stanza.
The Rams missed two shots in the opening seconds of the second quarter, which was followed by a Clougherty 3-pointer to put Lehigh up 22-17 with 9:12 to play. Capped off by Gena Grundhoffer free throws in the final seconds before halftime, the Mountain Hawks out-scored Fordham, 12-6 in the second to head to the locker room with a 31-23 advantage.
After Fordham made two-point basket in the first 30 seconds of the third quarter, the Mountain Hawks got their first bucket of the second half on a jumper from Emma Grothaus in the paint to extend Lehigh's lead back to eight points, 33-25. Camryn Buhr gave Lehigh its largest lead of the game to that point with 2:03 to play after a jumper extended the advantage to 10 points, 44-34. On a free throw from Bre Cavanaugh with four seconds to play, Fordham cut its deficit down to 45-39 before the final break of the contest.
With 5:09 to play, Fordham fought back to trail Lehigh by just one point after a layup made it 50-49. With 3:22 to play, Buhr hit a big 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the shot clock to give Lehigh a 55-51 lead.
From there forward, the game turned into the Kaitlyn Downey show for Fordham, as she hit a crucial 3-pointer to put the Rams down by one, 57-56.
The Mountain Hawks had an opportunity to get the ball back with less than 20 seconds to play, especially when a seemingly tipped ball by the Fordham defender was ruled out by Lehigh, giving the Rams a chance to run down the clock and get a chance to score for the late victory.
Downey received the ball and the look, nailing a jumper from beyond-the-arc with 0.1 seconds left to give Fordham the 59-57 victory and a 1-1 weekend after falling to No. 25 Arkansas on Friday afternoon.
"I thought our kids played great honestly," said head coach Sue Troyan. "It's just disappointing. [Fordham] made a shot when they had to make a big shot. We had some calls that didn't go our way, but that's the game of basketball. We need to learn from it and get better from it. I thought our kids competed really well against a really competitive Atlantic 10 team."
For Lehigh, Buhr ended up salvaging a rough first half with a clutch second half performance to finish with 12 points and seven rebounds, adding three assists, two steals and a block. She finishes in double-digits for the sixth time this season after failing to get to that level against Ball State on Thanksgiving.
Grothaus also finished in double-digits with 10 points and eight rebounds, while Steele had nine points, getting six on free throws, finishing 6-of-8 from the line. In just the second start of her career, Sexe finished with eight points after a strong showing in the first half.
"We're so proud of Mariah, this weekend is actually the anniversary of her mom's death," Troyan said. "Not an easy weekend for her to travel and her family to travel, but we're thankful that her dad and her sister could be here with her. I thought she really stepped up today, she was playing for something much bigger than basketball today and we're all just super proud of how she stepped up in that role."
The Mountain Hawks ended up shooting just 32.8 percent (21-for-64) from the field and 35.7 percent (5-for-14) from the 3-point line, and making 10 of their 13 free throws. Lehigh's bench out-scored Fordham's 28-11, while gaining 28 of the 57 points in the paint and 14 off 17 Fordham turnovers.
"We expended a lot of energy on both ends of the floor," said Troyan. "You can look at playing two games in three days, a lot of travel, it probably showed a lot towards the end."
Lehigh will look to get back on track in the States on Tuesday, as the Mountain Hawks host Division II Bloomsburg at 6 p.m. at Stabler Arena. Tickets can be purchased here, at the box office or by calling 610-7LU-GAME. The game will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network.
Like Lehigh Women's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.Gallery: (11/30/2019) Lehigh WBB vs. Fordham 11-30-19
Early in the first frame, the Mountain Hawks found themselves trailing after Fordham's 8-2 run. Mariah Sexe scored four of her eight first half points in the first few minutes of the first quarter of play, helping Lehigh get close to even with the Rams after falling behind early. Mary Clougherty's fastbreak jumper in the paint with 2:17 left to play gave Lehigh its first lead of the quarter, up 14-13. The Mountain Hawks used five points by Clair Steele in the minute off two shots at the line and a 3-pointer to take a 19-17 lead into the second stanza.
The Rams missed two shots in the opening seconds of the second quarter, which was followed by a Clougherty 3-pointer to put Lehigh up 22-17 with 9:12 to play. Capped off by Gena Grundhoffer free throws in the final seconds before halftime, the Mountain Hawks out-scored Fordham, 12-6 in the second to head to the locker room with a 31-23 advantage.
After Fordham made two-point basket in the first 30 seconds of the third quarter, the Mountain Hawks got their first bucket of the second half on a jumper from Emma Grothaus in the paint to extend Lehigh's lead back to eight points, 33-25. Camryn Buhr gave Lehigh its largest lead of the game to that point with 2:03 to play after a jumper extended the advantage to 10 points, 44-34. On a free throw from Bre Cavanaugh with four seconds to play, Fordham cut its deficit down to 45-39 before the final break of the contest.
With 5:09 to play, Fordham fought back to trail Lehigh by just one point after a layup made it 50-49. With 3:22 to play, Buhr hit a big 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the shot clock to give Lehigh a 55-51 lead.
From there forward, the game turned into the Kaitlyn Downey show for Fordham, as she hit a crucial 3-pointer to put the Rams down by one, 57-56.
The Mountain Hawks had an opportunity to get the ball back with less than 20 seconds to play, especially when a seemingly tipped ball by the Fordham defender was ruled out by Lehigh, giving the Rams a chance to run down the clock and get a chance to score for the late victory.
Downey received the ball and the look, nailing a jumper from beyond-the-arc with 0.1 seconds left to give Fordham the 59-57 victory and a 1-1 weekend after falling to No. 25 Arkansas on Friday afternoon.
"I thought our kids played great honestly," said head coach Sue Troyan. "It's just disappointing. [Fordham] made a shot when they had to make a big shot. We had some calls that didn't go our way, but that's the game of basketball. We need to learn from it and get better from it. I thought our kids competed really well against a really competitive Atlantic 10 team."
For Lehigh, Buhr ended up salvaging a rough first half with a clutch second half performance to finish with 12 points and seven rebounds, adding three assists, two steals and a block. She finishes in double-digits for the sixth time this season after failing to get to that level against Ball State on Thanksgiving.
Grothaus also finished in double-digits with 10 points and eight rebounds, while Steele had nine points, getting six on free throws, finishing 6-of-8 from the line. In just the second start of her career, Sexe finished with eight points after a strong showing in the first half.
"We're so proud of Mariah, this weekend is actually the anniversary of her mom's death," Troyan said. "Not an easy weekend for her to travel and her family to travel, but we're thankful that her dad and her sister could be here with her. I thought she really stepped up today, she was playing for something much bigger than basketball today and we're all just super proud of how she stepped up in that role."
The Mountain Hawks ended up shooting just 32.8 percent (21-for-64) from the field and 35.7 percent (5-for-14) from the 3-point line, and making 10 of their 13 free throws. Lehigh's bench out-scored Fordham's 28-11, while gaining 28 of the 57 points in the paint and 14 off 17 Fordham turnovers.
"We expended a lot of energy on both ends of the floor," said Troyan. "You can look at playing two games in three days, a lot of travel, it probably showed a lot towards the end."
Lehigh will look to get back on track in the States on Tuesday, as the Mountain Hawks host Division II Bloomsburg at 6 p.m. at Stabler Arena. Tickets can be purchased here, at the box office or by calling 610-7LU-GAME. The game will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network.
Like Lehigh Women's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Team Stats
FU
Lehigh
FG%
.434
.328
3FG%
.304
.357
FT%
.600
.769
RB
41
36
TO
17
10
STL
5
7
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
10
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
9
FGM
1
3FGM
1
FTM
6
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG
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