Lehigh topped by Crusaders for second straight defeat at home

Wednesday, January 22

Bethlehem, Pa.

6 p.m.

Lehigh University

13-5,5-2Patriot

Holy Cross

12-6,5-2Patriot

Holy Cross

Lehigh

Photo by: Josh Liddick

Lehigh topped by Crusaders for second straight defeat at home

1/22/2020 10:02:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — For the second consecutive game, the Lehigh women's basketball team was out-played by the opposition, struggling out of the gate once again and falling to Holy Cross, 74-57 Wednesday night at Stabler Arena.

The loss marks the Mountain Hawks' second straight, matching a season-long two game losing streak at the Bahamas.

The first quarter looked pretty equal between the two sides with the Crusaders leading 13-10 with 6:49 remaining. Nine of those first 13 points were scored by Lauren Manis, who had 14 points in the first quarter alone. Holy Cross headed into the second frame with a seven-point, 20-13 lead. 16 of the 20 points were in the paint for the Crusaders, who also out-rebounded Lehigh, 10-5 through the first 10 minutes.

Jenay Faulkner hit a 3-pointer with 9:14 to go in the second quarter to put the Crusaders up 10, 23-13. Holy Cross went on a 5-2 run to open the quarter capped off by a Manis layup on the fastbreak with 6:03 to play, leading 28-15 at the media timeout. Megan Swords got the lead out to 16 points, 33-17 with 3:50 to play and though Mary Clougherty hit a 3-pointer with 3:27 left, the Crusaders ended the first half on a 7-0 push, with Swords scoring four more points, Kathryn Pedi hitting a 3-pointer as Holy Cross led, 40-20 heading into the locker room.

"The first half on both ends of the floor, I didn't think we were very good," said head coach Sue Troyan. "Defensively, they really had their way with us, particularly with the offensive boards and they had a lot of second chance points.

"I thought we did better in the second half, but we dug ourselves a pretty big hole defensively and offensively, we just weren't aggressive, didn't have a lot of people that were looking for their shots. We just need to find our way right now."

Avery LaBarbera got Holy Cross' lead to a game-high 24-point margin with 6:11 left in the third quarter after a layup on a fastbreak. Lehigh cut the deficit back down to 17 points on two occasions after a Hannah Hedstrom free throw and a 3-pointer from Katie Rice with 2:52 left to cut the Holy Cross lead to 49-32. Clair Steele made a pair of free throws with 43 seconds remaining, but LaBarbera answered right back with two of her own to give the Crusaders an 18-point cushion, up 54-36 heading into the final quarter.

The Mountain Hawks opened up the fourth quarter trying to cut the Crusader lead and for the most part at first, they succeeded. Emma Grothaus converted on a jumper just 10 seconds into the start of the quarter and 44 seconds later, at the 9:06 mark, Cameryn Benz had a layup to bring Lehigh within 13 points, 54-41. However, Jenay Faulkner swished a 3-point jumper with 8:46 to extend the Holy Cross lead back to 16 points.

After the media timeout with 7:38 remaining, LaBarbera scored on a jumper, which was followed by a Manis layup to extend the lead back to 21 points. The Mountain Hawks were able to out-score the Crusaders, 21-20 in the final stanza, but were unable to gain ground in the final tally, falling for the second consecutive game, 74-57.

Sophomore forward Emma Grothaus finished with a team-high 13 points and five rebounds on the night. Senior Camryn Buhr added 10 points and four rebounds with two assists and two steals. Cameryn Benz scored eight points and added seven boards with two assists, two steals and a block.

Lehigh struggled shooting the ball, going 34.5 percent (20-for-58) from the field and just 25 percent (5-for-20) from beyond-the-arc. The Mountain Hawks shot 66.7 percent (12-for-18) from the foul line.

The story of the night was the Crusaders and their offense, especially with rebounding the ball. Holy Cross out-rebounded Lehigh, 45-24 throughout.

Senior Megan Swords finished with 16 points and 16 rebounds, while senior Lauren Manis finished with a season-high 29 points and 11 rebounds. Holy Cross shot 50.9 percent (29-for-57) from the field and 42.9 percent (6-for-14) from long range.

46 of Holy Cross' 74 points were scored in the paint and it also had 22 second-chance points to Lehigh's eight. The Mountain Hawks' bench, however, out-scored the Crusaders, 27-12, while Lehigh scored 25 points on 24 Holy Cross turnovers.

The loss for Lehigh puts them in a tie with Holy Cross for the fourth seed in the Patriot League at 5-2, behind Colgate and Bucknell. The Bison took down the Raiders in Lewisburg Wednesday night in convincing fashion, 66-43.

The Mountain Hawks will head back on the road, but won't have to travel far for the next matchup, a date at 2 p.m. Saturday in Easton against archrival Lafayette. Lehigh has won eight straight games against the Leopards dating back to Jan. 27, 2016. The current senior class has never lost a game against Lafayette so far.

That game will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network or available on Lehighsports.com through a live audio stream with Matt Markus on the call.

"Saturday is a big game for us coming up, it's not going to get any easier for us," Troyan said. "We gotta get better and challenge the kids over the next few days to do that.

"I think our players are going to be set for that matchup this weekend, but so will Lafayette. We've had their number in the last few years and I'm sure they're going to be excited to face us."

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Gallery: (1/22/2020) WBB vs. Holy Cross, 1/22/20