Sunday, December 29
Jersey City, N.J.
1 p.m.
Lehigh University
8-3,0-0Patriot
80
at
71
Saint Peter's
3-6,0-0MAAC
1
2
3
4
F
Lehigh
22
17
26
15
80
Saint Peter's
17
27
22
5
71
Photo by: Josh Liddick
Strong fourth quarter pays dividends in Lehigh's victory at Saint Peter's
12/29/2019 7:32:00 PM | Women's Basketball
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Basketball is game of ebbs-and-flows and ups-and-downs. It seemed like all of that happened on Sunday for the Lehigh women's basketball team, using a 15-5 advantage in the fourth quarter to hold on for a 80-71 victory over Saint Peter's at the Yanitelli Center.
The win pushes the Mountain Hawks' overall record to 8-3 as the team gets ready for the first Patriot League matchup of the season on Thursday evening against Navy at Stabler Arena.
Lehigh started the first half off in style, going on a 20-6 run out of the gate at the 3:34 mark in the first quarter. The Peacocks ended up going on an 11-2 run to close out the first, trailing Lehigh only 22-17 at the first break.
The second quarter started pretty much the way it ended for Saint Peter's, as the team went on another 11-2 run to start, a 22-4 run from the 3:00 mark to end the first frame. The Peacocks tacked on four more points, while Lehigh got a basket from Cameryn Benz with 6:40 left, to make it a 30-28 game. That capped off a 26-6 run for Saint Peter's that got them back into the game. Heading into the media timeout with 5:21 to play in the half, Saint Peter's continued the onslaught with a Kendrea Williams 3-pointer that gave the Peacocks their largest lead of the game at eight points, up 38-30.
"We definitely got out to a quick start," said head coach Sue Troyan. "I thought we played some of our best basketball of the season during that opening stretch, but give Saint Peter's credit, we couldn't get any stops. We were pretty consistent on the offensive end throughout most of the game, but on the defensive end, they kind of had their way with us.
"We told our girls before the game that this was a team that was going to make runs, and you need to respond to that, work on getting stops and I thought this was a really good game for us to have going into league play."
The Mountain Hawks closed out the quarter on a 9-6 push to head into the locker room trailing 44-39.
After making halftime adjustments, the start of the third quarter looked like Lehigh was going to make a change in its approach defensively, but the Peacocks kept it close for most of the stanza. Trailing 50-47 with 6:45 to play in the third, Megan Walker stepped up in a big way, turning a three-point deficit into a three-point advantage with back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Mountain Hawks a 53-50 lead with 5:34 to play. At the media timeout with 3:36 to play in the frame, the score was knotted up at 57.
Saint Peter's took a four-point lead with 1:52 to play, but Camryn Buhr drilled a key 3-pointer with 25 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to just one point, trailing 66-65 heading into the final quarter of play.
After a Hannah Hedstrom 3-pointer with 7:21 to play that acted as a momentum-shifter, the fourth quarter belonged almost completely to Lehigh, going almost the entirety of the period on what was a 13-1 run with 1:33 to play in the contest. Saint Peter's had just two field goals in the entire quarter, scoring again with 1:23 left, but Lehigh held on for the nine-point victory after a dominant fourth quarter.
"That shot for Hannah was huge, it was probably the game-changer of a back-and-forth game the whole time," said Troyan. "They really tightened up from there on the defensive end, got big stops down the stretch.
"I thought we played really well defensively there and got contributions from a lot of different people. Our post players, Mariah had some big buckets for us, Emma was also great for us."
Buhr finished with a team-high 20 points with six rebounds, four assists, a steal and a block in 29 minutes. Four players finished in double scoring figures, as Mariah Sexe added 14, Benz had 12 and Emma Grothaus finished with 12 points as well.
"I thought Camryn had big shots for us today," Troyan said. "They had gone zone against us for the majority of the game there. We got out early and that put them into the zone. I thought Cam had a couple big, big threes in the second half that opened it up for us.
"The game in the fourth quarter was won on the defensive end for us, I thought we did a much better job of taking it to heart. We challenged them on the defensive side and I thought good defense and strong rebounding allowed us to have a strong transition game as well, which was a key."
For Benz, she completed her third double-double of the season with 11 rebounds to her total as well. She also had four steals and two blocks on the afternoon. Senior Hannah Hedstrom finished with a season-high nine assists to go along with three boards, five points and two steals.
The Mountain Hawks shot 46.4 percent (32-for-69) from the field, and a near-perfect 91.7 percent (11-for-12) from the free throw line. The Peacocks had a great afternoon shooting from the field at 40.9 percent (27-for-66) including 28.6 percent (8-for-28) from the 3-point line and 90 percent (9-for-10) from the charity stripe. Most of their scoring was done by Kendrea Williams, who finished with a game-high 31 points with six 3-pointers.
Lehigh's bench out-scored Saint Peter's, 21-5 while scoring 50 of its 81 points in the paint and 26 points were scored off 19 Peacock turnovers.
For the Mountain Hawks, the 8-3 start to the 2019-20 season matches last season's start at the end of the non-league schedule. Lehigh will enter its matchup with the Midshipmen (5-5) to begin Patriot League play this week tied for the best record in the league along with Colgate.
Like Lehigh Women's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.Gallery: (12/29/2019) Women's Basketball at SPU 12/29/2019
The win pushes the Mountain Hawks' overall record to 8-3 as the team gets ready for the first Patriot League matchup of the season on Thursday evening against Navy at Stabler Arena.
Lehigh started the first half off in style, going on a 20-6 run out of the gate at the 3:34 mark in the first quarter. The Peacocks ended up going on an 11-2 run to close out the first, trailing Lehigh only 22-17 at the first break.
The second quarter started pretty much the way it ended for Saint Peter's, as the team went on another 11-2 run to start, a 22-4 run from the 3:00 mark to end the first frame. The Peacocks tacked on four more points, while Lehigh got a basket from Cameryn Benz with 6:40 left, to make it a 30-28 game. That capped off a 26-6 run for Saint Peter's that got them back into the game. Heading into the media timeout with 5:21 to play in the half, Saint Peter's continued the onslaught with a Kendrea Williams 3-pointer that gave the Peacocks their largest lead of the game at eight points, up 38-30.
"We definitely got out to a quick start," said head coach Sue Troyan. "I thought we played some of our best basketball of the season during that opening stretch, but give Saint Peter's credit, we couldn't get any stops. We were pretty consistent on the offensive end throughout most of the game, but on the defensive end, they kind of had their way with us.
"We told our girls before the game that this was a team that was going to make runs, and you need to respond to that, work on getting stops and I thought this was a really good game for us to have going into league play."
The Mountain Hawks closed out the quarter on a 9-6 push to head into the locker room trailing 44-39.
After making halftime adjustments, the start of the third quarter looked like Lehigh was going to make a change in its approach defensively, but the Peacocks kept it close for most of the stanza. Trailing 50-47 with 6:45 to play in the third, Megan Walker stepped up in a big way, turning a three-point deficit into a three-point advantage with back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Mountain Hawks a 53-50 lead with 5:34 to play. At the media timeout with 3:36 to play in the frame, the score was knotted up at 57.
Saint Peter's took a four-point lead with 1:52 to play, but Camryn Buhr drilled a key 3-pointer with 25 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to just one point, trailing 66-65 heading into the final quarter of play.
After a Hannah Hedstrom 3-pointer with 7:21 to play that acted as a momentum-shifter, the fourth quarter belonged almost completely to Lehigh, going almost the entirety of the period on what was a 13-1 run with 1:33 to play in the contest. Saint Peter's had just two field goals in the entire quarter, scoring again with 1:23 left, but Lehigh held on for the nine-point victory after a dominant fourth quarter.
"That shot for Hannah was huge, it was probably the game-changer of a back-and-forth game the whole time," said Troyan. "They really tightened up from there on the defensive end, got big stops down the stretch.
"I thought we played really well defensively there and got contributions from a lot of different people. Our post players, Mariah had some big buckets for us, Emma was also great for us."
Buhr finished with a team-high 20 points with six rebounds, four assists, a steal and a block in 29 minutes. Four players finished in double scoring figures, as Mariah Sexe added 14, Benz had 12 and Emma Grothaus finished with 12 points as well.
"I thought Camryn had big shots for us today," Troyan said. "They had gone zone against us for the majority of the game there. We got out early and that put them into the zone. I thought Cam had a couple big, big threes in the second half that opened it up for us.
"The game in the fourth quarter was won on the defensive end for us, I thought we did a much better job of taking it to heart. We challenged them on the defensive side and I thought good defense and strong rebounding allowed us to have a strong transition game as well, which was a key."
For Benz, she completed her third double-double of the season with 11 rebounds to her total as well. She also had four steals and two blocks on the afternoon. Senior Hannah Hedstrom finished with a season-high nine assists to go along with three boards, five points and two steals.
The Mountain Hawks shot 46.4 percent (32-for-69) from the field, and a near-perfect 91.7 percent (11-for-12) from the free throw line. The Peacocks had a great afternoon shooting from the field at 40.9 percent (27-for-66) including 28.6 percent (8-for-28) from the 3-point line and 90 percent (9-for-10) from the charity stripe. Most of their scoring was done by Kendrea Williams, who finished with a game-high 31 points with six 3-pointers.
Lehigh's bench out-scored Saint Peter's, 21-5 while scoring 50 of its 81 points in the paint and 26 points were scored off 19 Peacock turnovers.
For the Mountain Hawks, the 8-3 start to the 2019-20 season matches last season's start at the end of the non-league schedule. Lehigh will enter its matchup with the Midshipmen (5-5) to begin Patriot League play this week tied for the best record in the league along with Colgate.
Like Lehigh Women's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Big-time 2️⃣0️⃣ point performance for our co-captain, @cbuhr_15, who talked to @MattMarkusLV after our 80-71 victory over Saint Peter's today to close out non-league action. pic.twitter.com/81UlL7lbBG
— Lehigh Women's Basketball (@LehighWBB) December 29, 2019
Team Stats
Lehigh
SP
FG%
.464
.409
3FG%
.263
.286
FT%
.917
.900
RB
41
27
TO
18
19
STL
9
6
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
20
FGM
8
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
14
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
12
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
12
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G
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