Lehigh University Athletics
Saturday, January 18
Bethlehem, Pa.
4 p.m.
Lehigh University
13-4,5-1Patriot
50
vs
71
Bucknell
13-4,6-0Patriot
1
2
3
4
F
Bucknell
20
19
20
12
71
Lehigh
7
15
15
13
50
Photo by: Brent Hugo
Mountain Hawks drop first league contest to Bucknell in fight for first place
1/18/2020 8:37:00 PM | Women's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — For the first time in the 2019-20 season, the Lehigh women's basketball team has been defeated in Patriot League play, falling to Bucknell, 71-50 at Stabler Arena Saturday afternoon. The loss snaps Lehigh's six-game win streak, its nine-game win streak at home and its 10-game regular season Patriot League game win streak dating back to last season.
"We really did struggle offensively tonight," said head coach Sue Troyan. "Give Bucknell a lot of credit. I thought they did a good job of disrupting our offensive flow, not allowing us to get into what we wanted to do and that's a credit to their defense.
"We just never got into any kind of offensive flow tonight and really struggled to defend them inside, on the perimeter and all-around."
The first quarter belonged almost completely to Bucknell, who went on a 20-5 run to open the first frame with 38 seconds left and took a 20-7 lead over the Mountain Hawks into the second quarter.
Sophomore Emma Grothaus scored Lehigh's first points of the second quarter on a layup with 9:48 remaining, but the Bison answered back with an Abby Kapp 3-pointer with 9:21 left to make it a 23-9 game. Bucknell ended up opening the second quarter on a 10-4 run, out to a 30-13 lead with 5:03 left in the frame. The two teams traded blows before Ellie Mack converted on a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left to give Bucknell a 39-22 advantage going into halftime.
The Bison opened the second half on a run of 11-5 to take a 50-28 lead over the Mountain Hawks after a Tessa Brugler layup. Clair Steele hit a shot from long range to cut the Bucknell lead to 19, but Brugler made a layup with 3:46 on the clock to get the Bison's lead back out to 21, 52-31. Bucknell scored eight unanswered points to take a commanding 27-point lead, up 58-31 with 2:11 left. Lehigh scored the last three points, concluding with a Hannah Hedstrom jumper with 41 seconds left to trail 59-37 heading into the final stanza.
An Ally Johnson 3-pointer with 7:36 remaining in the final period gave the Bison a 26-point lead over Lehigh, but Cameryn Benz answered back with a layup at the 7:13 mark to cut the deficit down to 24 points, 66-42. Benz had a couple more baskets for the Mountain Hawks including two free throws to cut the Bucknell lead back down to 20 points, 68-48 with 2:48 remaining. Steele hit two free throws with 1:25 left, the final points for either side, with Bucknell coming out on top, 71-50.
"It was a bad combination of struggling to get stops and you're not even hitting anything to set your defense to," said Troyan. "So it's a game we need to learn from. I thought we got out-hustled today a lot and they were much more physical than we were. We're going to need to figure out some of that by Wednesday, because we're going to see the same thing against Holy Cross."
Cameryn Benz led the way with 11 points and 10 rebounds, good for her team-high fourth double-double of the year. She also added two steals to her total. Camryn Buhr had 10 points on the afternoon with six rebounds, while Hannah Hedstrom added eight points with two steals and two rebounds, Emma Grothaus finished with seven points and five boards.
The Mountain Hawks shot 32.8 percent (19-for-58) from the field, 26.7 percent (4-for-15) from beyond-the-arc and 42.1 percent (8-for-19) from the free throw line. Bucknell was nearly automatic from the field, shooting 52.9 percent (27-for-51), 57.9 percent (11-for-19) from the 3-point line and 60 percent (6-for-10) from the charity stripe.
Lehigh had 14 points off 16 Bucknell turnovers while only turning the ball over 12 times throughout the game. The Mountain Hawks had nine second chance points, nine points on the fast break and had 19 bench points, as opposed to seven for the Bison.
Bucknell has been a tough opponent for Lehigh to get over the hump with as of late, with the Bison winning the last four matchups between the two teams. The Mountain Hawks will have a chance at retribution on Feb. 22 in Lewisburg when the rivalry renews for the final time this season.
"We need to learn from it, we need to get better from it and you gotta move on honestly," Troyan said. "With an 18-game league slate, we can't dwell on this. We weren't really good today on either end of the floor and we gotta be better by Wednesday."
The Mountain Hawks host the Crusaders on Wednesday with tip-off set for 6 p.m. It'll be a battle between two teams who were picked first and second, respectively in the preseason league poll. Tickets can be purchased on LehighTickets.com, at the box office prior to the start of the game or by calling 610-7LU-GAME.
Like Lehigh Women's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Gallery: (1/18/2020) Women's Basketball vs. Bucknell, 1/18/20
"We really did struggle offensively tonight," said head coach Sue Troyan. "Give Bucknell a lot of credit. I thought they did a good job of disrupting our offensive flow, not allowing us to get into what we wanted to do and that's a credit to their defense.
"We just never got into any kind of offensive flow tonight and really struggled to defend them inside, on the perimeter and all-around."
The first quarter belonged almost completely to Bucknell, who went on a 20-5 run to open the first frame with 38 seconds left and took a 20-7 lead over the Mountain Hawks into the second quarter.
Sophomore Emma Grothaus scored Lehigh's first points of the second quarter on a layup with 9:48 remaining, but the Bison answered back with an Abby Kapp 3-pointer with 9:21 left to make it a 23-9 game. Bucknell ended up opening the second quarter on a 10-4 run, out to a 30-13 lead with 5:03 left in the frame. The two teams traded blows before Ellie Mack converted on a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left to give Bucknell a 39-22 advantage going into halftime.
The Bison opened the second half on a run of 11-5 to take a 50-28 lead over the Mountain Hawks after a Tessa Brugler layup. Clair Steele hit a shot from long range to cut the Bucknell lead to 19, but Brugler made a layup with 3:46 on the clock to get the Bison's lead back out to 21, 52-31. Bucknell scored eight unanswered points to take a commanding 27-point lead, up 58-31 with 2:11 left. Lehigh scored the last three points, concluding with a Hannah Hedstrom jumper with 41 seconds left to trail 59-37 heading into the final stanza.
An Ally Johnson 3-pointer with 7:36 remaining in the final period gave the Bison a 26-point lead over Lehigh, but Cameryn Benz answered back with a layup at the 7:13 mark to cut the deficit down to 24 points, 66-42. Benz had a couple more baskets for the Mountain Hawks including two free throws to cut the Bucknell lead back down to 20 points, 68-48 with 2:48 remaining. Steele hit two free throws with 1:25 left, the final points for either side, with Bucknell coming out on top, 71-50.
"It was a bad combination of struggling to get stops and you're not even hitting anything to set your defense to," said Troyan. "So it's a game we need to learn from. I thought we got out-hustled today a lot and they were much more physical than we were. We're going to need to figure out some of that by Wednesday, because we're going to see the same thing against Holy Cross."
Cameryn Benz led the way with 11 points and 10 rebounds, good for her team-high fourth double-double of the year. She also added two steals to her total. Camryn Buhr had 10 points on the afternoon with six rebounds, while Hannah Hedstrom added eight points with two steals and two rebounds, Emma Grothaus finished with seven points and five boards.
The Mountain Hawks shot 32.8 percent (19-for-58) from the field, 26.7 percent (4-for-15) from beyond-the-arc and 42.1 percent (8-for-19) from the free throw line. Bucknell was nearly automatic from the field, shooting 52.9 percent (27-for-51), 57.9 percent (11-for-19) from the 3-point line and 60 percent (6-for-10) from the charity stripe.
Lehigh had 14 points off 16 Bucknell turnovers while only turning the ball over 12 times throughout the game. The Mountain Hawks had nine second chance points, nine points on the fast break and had 19 bench points, as opposed to seven for the Bison.
Bucknell has been a tough opponent for Lehigh to get over the hump with as of late, with the Bison winning the last four matchups between the two teams. The Mountain Hawks will have a chance at retribution on Feb. 22 in Lewisburg when the rivalry renews for the final time this season.
"We need to learn from it, we need to get better from it and you gotta move on honestly," Troyan said. "With an 18-game league slate, we can't dwell on this. We weren't really good today on either end of the floor and we gotta be better by Wednesday."
The Mountain Hawks host the Crusaders on Wednesday with tip-off set for 6 p.m. It'll be a battle between two teams who were picked first and second, respectively in the preseason league poll. Tickets can be purchased on LehighTickets.com, at the box office prior to the start of the game or by calling 610-7LU-GAME.
Like Lehigh Women's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Team Stats
Buck
Lehigh
FG%
.529
.328
3FG%
.579
.267
FT%
.600
.421
RB
38
30
TO
16
12
STL
2
6
Game Leaders
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
G
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