Lehigh runs away from Navy, 70-40 for Patriot League opening win

Thursday, January 2

Bethlehem, Pa.

6 p.m.

Lehigh University

9-3,1-0Patriot

Navy

5-7,0-1Patriot

Navy

Lehigh

Photo by: Josh Liddick

Lehigh runs away from Navy, 70-40 for Patriot League opening win

1/2/2020 9:43:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Thursday night was a game of runs for the Lehigh women's basketball team, who used a run of 29-7 to conclude the first half of play and ended the game on a 31-8 run to come away with a statement victory, a 70-40 win over Navy to open Patriot League play at Stabler Arena.

The first quarter was close for the Mountain Hawks (9-3, 1-0 Patriot), who came away with just a three-point lead at the end of the first 10 minutes, a 16-13 advantage over the short-handed Midshipmen (5-7, 0-1 Patriot). However, it was Lehigh that took off in the second frame, leading 25-13 with 5:05 left after Megan Walker's 3-pointer. Navy scored to make it a six-point, 26-20 game with 2:31 to go, but the Mountain Hawks ended the quarter by scoring 13 unanswered points, capped off by back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers from Mary Clougherty, Emma Grothaus and Clair Steele.

That barrage from beyond-the-arc gave Lehigh a 19-point cushion heading into the locker room.

The Midshipmen took a little run of their own to kick off the second half with a 9-0 push heading into the media timeout with 6:54 remaining. That cut the Lehigh lead to 39-29. Two buckets from Grothaus and then another make for Clougherty pushed the lead back up to 13 points with 2:10 to play. Clougherty nailed her second 3-pointer of the game to make it a 16-point Lehigh lead and Grothaus ended the quarter with a layup with 54 seconds left to give Lehigh the 50-32 lead, capping another 9-2 run to close out the third.

Lehigh opened up the fourth quarter the way they closed the other three by scoring seven straight points, ending with Clougherty's third 3-pointer of the night, causing Navy to take a 30 second timeout with 7:35 left in regulation.

A 10-2 run for the Mountain Hawks in the next four minutes or so had Lehigh up 31 points, 67-36 with 3:39 remaining. Frannie Hottinger scored Lehigh's last basket on the fast break with 2:25 left to take a 70-36 lead. Navy scored the last four points, but the Mountain Hawks held on for the 70-40 win to start off 2020 on a high note.

"I thought we had a solid game on both ends of the floor," said head coach Sue Troyan. "I thought our bench was perfect offensively. We've said it before but that's going to be the strength of our program moving forward, we utilize it in different ways. Mary [Clougherty] stepped up and did a nice job, I thought Emma [Grothaus] had a great game too."

The Lehigh bench thrived once again as Clougherty finished with a team-high 15 points, Grothaus added 14 and Steele scored seven points. The bench out-scored Navy's, 44-12 on the evening, while the Mountain Hawks out-rebounded the Mids, 42-33.

Cameryn Benz was Lehigh's third-leading scorer with 11, adding four rebounds and two steals. Camryn Buhr only scored five points, but led the team in rebounds with seven. Thursday also saw the return of Gena Grundhoffer to the lineup, notching four points and a steal, going 2-for-2 from the charity stripe.

The Mountain Hawks shot the ball well from the floor overall, shooting 47.2 percent (25-for-53), while holding Navy to just 28.1 percent (16-for-57) from the floor. Lehigh also shot a 33.3 percent (7-for-21) clip from beyond, holding the Mids to 25 percent (5-for-20).
"Our girls gained a ton of confidence from the way the defense played tonight," said Troyan. "We said that from the start that our defense has got to be what ignites everything for us. We've got the athleticism, the length and the depth to be a very good defensive team and we showed a little bit of that today I thought."

Lehigh scored 17 points on 15 Navy turnovers while also turning in 10 second chance points and 26 points from the paint.

The win marks Lehigh's third straight season with a victory in the Patriot League opener and the Mountain Hawks' eighth straight home win at Stabler Arena dating back to last season. Lehigh is 5-0 at home so far this season.

"Our girls have been focused for the Patriot League season going into this game," Troyan said. "They had a great couple days of practice and a great shootaround today. I think it helps when you have six seniors that have been through this, know what's at stake and know that it's a long, 18-game league season these next eight weeks. They not only need to have the physical focus, but the mental piece of it is probably more important."

Next up on the docket is the first Patriot League road contest of the year for Lehigh, who will visit Loyola Maryland in Baltimore Sunday afternoon with a 1 p.m. tip-off. That game will be broadcast live on the Patriot League Network and through Lehighsports.com for live audio with Matt Markus on the call. That coverage will begin at 12:50 p.m.

Lehigh held Navy to under 40 percent shooting. Fans in attendance received a free appetizer with the purchase of two entrees courtesy of The Brick in Bethlehem.

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Gallery: (1/2/2020) Women's Basketball vs. Navy, 1/2/2020