Sunday, December 8
Emmitsburg, Md.
1 p.m.
Lehigh University
7-2,0-0Patriot
66
at
65
Mount St. Mary's
4-4,0-0NEC
1
2
3
4
F
Lehigh
15
17
13
21
66
Mount St. Mary's
24
7
12
22
65
Photo by: Josh Liddick
Miracle at the Mount! Walker hits buzzer for Lehigh, 66-65 over Mount St. Mary's
12/8/2019 5:11:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Mountain Hawks erase 7-point deficit in final 26 seconds
EMMITSBURG, Md. — Erasing a seven-point deficit with 26 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, a key defensive play by Camryn Buhr and jumper with 12 seconds to play was followed by a 3-point winner from Megan Walker with 0.1 second left, lifting the Lehigh women's basketball team to a dramatic 66-65 victory over Mount St. Mary's Sunday afternoon at Knott Arena in the final game before final exams.
The Mountain Hawks started the first quarter by playing from behind, as the Mount surged ahead, leading by six points with 4:52 on the clock. Meagan Eripret's layup with 2:28 to play in the first quarter cut the deficit to 15-13. The Mountaineers ended up finishing the quarter on a 9-2 run to lead 24-15 going into the first break.
It was a key second quarter for Lehigh, needing to gain separation before heading into the locker room for halftime. At the 5:00 mark, Mount St. Mary's got back out to an eight-point advantage on a 3-pointer, but the Mountain Hawks surged forward with seven straight points from Buhr, a layup, 3-pointer and a two-point jumper from outside the paint to make it 31-30 with 3:57 to play. It took until the 1:24 mark, but Emma Grothaus had Lehigh re-claim the lead with a 32-31 lead heading into halftime.
"I didn't think the game in general was our best basketball," said head coach Sue Troyan. "Obviously we were down a number of players with injuries, so we didn't have a lot of depth particularly at the post rotation, so we had to move Cam [Buhr] to the four, do some different things and I don't think we ever got out offense in sync the whole time, but different people stepped up to get us on that run."
Buhr's free throws with 5:14 remaining in the third quarter had Lehigh up five points, 40-35 heading into the media timeout. Hannah Hedstrom converted on a free throw with 1:25 left on the clock to give the Mountain Hawks their largest lead of the game to that point, a six-point advantage at 45-39. The Mount scored four points in the quarter's final minute to cut the deficit to only two points, a 45-43 Lehigh lead heading into the final stanza.
Mount St. Mary's began its pursuit for the lead once again in the fourth quarter, re-claiming it with 6:38 remaining on the Kendall Bresee two-pointer, up 50-49.
The Mountaineers came alive late in the quarter after back-to-back bombs from downtown, upped their lead to seven, 60-53 with 1:56 remaining. Hedstrom got the deficit back down to five points with 1:10 on the clock, but two free throws for Mount St. Mary's got the lead back up to seven with just 26 seconds left, up 62-55.
Troyan called a timeout at that point, as the Mountain Hawks looked to draw up a play in the game's final possessions. Walker hit a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left to make it a four-point game, but a personal foul from Grothaus got the Mountaineers back to the free throw line to add to the lead, making both to get out to a 64-58 advantage with 18 seconds to play.
Off the Buhr assist, Mary Clougherty nailed a 3-pointer to cut it to 64-61 with 15 seconds left. Buhr stole the ball off the inbounds and put the shot up for two more points, making it just a one-point ballgame with 11 seconds left.
Coming out of a timeout with seven seconds left to play and the ball after a made free throw for Mount St. Mary's gave them a two-point lead, Walker made a move to gain separation and knocked down a 3-pointer she will never forget, making it with just 0.1 second left on the clock, effectively capping off the comeback and sealing the victory for Lehigh.
"We talk about the basketball gods a lot, but we also talk about how it usually comes back at some point," said Troyan. "It was nice in this game that a tough shot, we give them a lot of credit, it wasn't exactly the play we drew up, but she took a tough shot that she practices a lot, the step-back 3 and she was pretty confident when she let it go."
Buhr led the way for Lehigh with 20 points and 10 rebounds, her third double-double of the season so far. She also added three assists and two steals in 32 minutes, going 7-of-16 from the field. Walker added 10 points with two boards, going 2-for-4 from beyond-the-arc. Clougherty finished with 11 points with a trio of 3-pointers. Grothaus finished her afternoon with eight points and eight rebounds in her second start of the season so far. Hedstrom had a strong performance from the point with eight points and six assists, with five rebounds in addition.
The Mountain Hawks shot just 33.8 percent (23-for-68) from the field, but the defense was effective once again, forcing 21 turnovers and getting six steals.
Lehigh has 13 days off before heading back on the road for the marquee matchup of the 2019-20 season, a homecoming game of sorts for six Mountain Hawks, at Minnesota on Dec. 21.
Like Lehigh Women's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Gallery: (12/8/2019) Lehigh WBB at The Mount 12/8/19
The Mountain Hawks started the first quarter by playing from behind, as the Mount surged ahead, leading by six points with 4:52 on the clock. Meagan Eripret's layup with 2:28 to play in the first quarter cut the deficit to 15-13. The Mountaineers ended up finishing the quarter on a 9-2 run to lead 24-15 going into the first break.
It was a key second quarter for Lehigh, needing to gain separation before heading into the locker room for halftime. At the 5:00 mark, Mount St. Mary's got back out to an eight-point advantage on a 3-pointer, but the Mountain Hawks surged forward with seven straight points from Buhr, a layup, 3-pointer and a two-point jumper from outside the paint to make it 31-30 with 3:57 to play. It took until the 1:24 mark, but Emma Grothaus had Lehigh re-claim the lead with a 32-31 lead heading into halftime.
"I didn't think the game in general was our best basketball," said head coach Sue Troyan. "Obviously we were down a number of players with injuries, so we didn't have a lot of depth particularly at the post rotation, so we had to move Cam [Buhr] to the four, do some different things and I don't think we ever got out offense in sync the whole time, but different people stepped up to get us on that run."
Buhr's free throws with 5:14 remaining in the third quarter had Lehigh up five points, 40-35 heading into the media timeout. Hannah Hedstrom converted on a free throw with 1:25 left on the clock to give the Mountain Hawks their largest lead of the game to that point, a six-point advantage at 45-39. The Mount scored four points in the quarter's final minute to cut the deficit to only two points, a 45-43 Lehigh lead heading into the final stanza.
Mount St. Mary's began its pursuit for the lead once again in the fourth quarter, re-claiming it with 6:38 remaining on the Kendall Bresee two-pointer, up 50-49.
The Mountaineers came alive late in the quarter after back-to-back bombs from downtown, upped their lead to seven, 60-53 with 1:56 remaining. Hedstrom got the deficit back down to five points with 1:10 on the clock, but two free throws for Mount St. Mary's got the lead back up to seven with just 26 seconds left, up 62-55.
Troyan called a timeout at that point, as the Mountain Hawks looked to draw up a play in the game's final possessions. Walker hit a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left to make it a four-point game, but a personal foul from Grothaus got the Mountaineers back to the free throw line to add to the lead, making both to get out to a 64-58 advantage with 18 seconds to play.
Off the Buhr assist, Mary Clougherty nailed a 3-pointer to cut it to 64-61 with 15 seconds left. Buhr stole the ball off the inbounds and put the shot up for two more points, making it just a one-point ballgame with 11 seconds left.
Coming out of a timeout with seven seconds left to play and the ball after a made free throw for Mount St. Mary's gave them a two-point lead, Walker made a move to gain separation and knocked down a 3-pointer she will never forget, making it with just 0.1 second left on the clock, effectively capping off the comeback and sealing the victory for Lehigh.
ICE IN HER VEINS❄️. Megan Walker drills a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Lehigh the 66-65 victory over The Mount! #GoLehigh pic.twitter.com/2YGkKWHvZe
— Lehigh Women's Basketball (@LehighWBB) December 8, 2019
"We talk about the basketball gods a lot, but we also talk about how it usually comes back at some point," said Troyan. "It was nice in this game that a tough shot, we give them a lot of credit, it wasn't exactly the play we drew up, but she took a tough shot that she practices a lot, the step-back 3 and she was pretty confident when she let it go."
Buhr led the way for Lehigh with 20 points and 10 rebounds, her third double-double of the season so far. She also added three assists and two steals in 32 minutes, going 7-of-16 from the field. Walker added 10 points with two boards, going 2-for-4 from beyond-the-arc. Clougherty finished with 11 points with a trio of 3-pointers. Grothaus finished her afternoon with eight points and eight rebounds in her second start of the season so far. Hedstrom had a strong performance from the point with eight points and six assists, with five rebounds in addition.
The Mountain Hawks shot just 33.8 percent (23-for-68) from the field, but the defense was effective once again, forcing 21 turnovers and getting six steals.
Lehigh has 13 days off before heading back on the road for the marquee matchup of the 2019-20 season, a homecoming game of sorts for six Mountain Hawks, at Minnesota on Dec. 21.
Like Lehigh Women's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Team Stats
Lehigh
MSM
FG%
.338
.368
3FG%
.292
.292
FT%
.650
.842
RB
44
38
TO
20
21
STL
6
12
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
20
FGM
7
3FGM
2
FTM
4
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
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