Lehigh University Athletics
Wednesday, January 29
Bethlehem, Pa.
6 p.m.
Lehigh University
13-7,5-4Patriot
56
vs
64
American
8-11,4-5Patriot
1
2
3
4
F
American
10
20
12
22
64
Lehigh
16
4
18
18
56
Photo by: Justin Lafleur
Turnovers plague Mountain Hawks in tough home loss to American
1/29/2020 10:19:00 PM | Women's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — After struggling in the second quarter, the Lehigh women's basketball team went on used a 19-4 run in the second half to re-take the lead, eventually falling to American, 64-56 Wednesday evening at Stabler Arena. The loss is the Mountain Hawks' (13-7, 5-4 Patriot) fourth straight defeat after starting the Patriot League slate off 5-0. The loss also marks Lehigh's third straight at home and 11th straight at home against American dating back to the Patriot League title game at Stabler in 2010.
Like its game at Lafayette on Saturday, Lehigh took full control of the first quarter of the game, getting out to a 16-10 advantage after the first 10 minutes of play. The Mountain Hawks opened the game on a 9-3 run after Mariah Sexe made a layup to give Lehigh its largest lead at six, before getting out to another six point lead at the end of the quarter. In that frame, Lehigh held American to just 26.7 percent (4-for-15) from the floor, including 33.3 percent (2-for-6) from beyond.
American took over in the second quarter, with a 6-2 run to open the frame, tying the game at 18 with 7:34 left. The Eagles took the lead with 5:59 to play in the quarter before going on an 18-2 run to conclude the stanza heading into halftime with a 30-20 lead over the Mountain Hawks. Lehigh managed to muster just four points, getting out-scored 20-4 in the second after leading by 10 points at the conclusion of the first. Lehigh was just 2-for-9 from the floor in that quarter, while AU shot the lights out, going 61.5 percent (8-for-13) from the floor and 75 percent (3-for-4) from beyond-the-arc.
The Eagles got their lead out to 12 points, up 34-22 with 7:19 to play in the third quarter, before Hannah Hedstrom cut the deficit to 10 with a layup with 7:04 to play. In the final 3:49 of the third quarter, the Mountain Hawks got out to a run of their own, out-scoring AU 8-2 in that timeframe to trail by just four points, 42-38 at the end of the third.
Camryn Buhr got Lehigh going in the fourth quarter with a jumper to bring it within one, 44-43 with 8:41 remaining and then a shot in the paint with 7:59 left to give the Mountain Hawks back the lead, 45-44. Meagan Eripret extend Lehigh's lead to three, with a jumper to make it 47-44 off the Clair Steele assist. That would however be the last lead of the game for Lehigh, as American ended the frame on a 20-9 run, getting the 64-56 victory on the road.
"Our performance just wasn't good enough to be successful," said head coach Sue Troyan. "We typically been a pretty good team in terms of taking care of the ball, but I thought we were almost trying too hard individually in the second quarter versus letting the game come together collectively as a group. That's something we need to get better at."
Buhr finished just a rebound shy of a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds, adding three assists and a steal in 34 minutes. Benz had eight points and five rebounds, while freshman Frannie Hottinger had a great night from the floor, going 4-of-5 with eight points, adding three rebounds in her 15 minutes of playing time.
"I thought Frannie was a great spark off the bench for us when we were struggling to put the ball in the basket and she makes it look pretty easy," said Troyan. "She's got a knack for scoring and is growing, getting better on the defensive end for us too. So hopefully she can continue to get better and we just need to be better down the stretch as a whole and let the game come to us early in the game."
Despite their loss, the Mountain Hawks shot 42.9 percent (24-for-56) from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line. The downfall was the team's turnovers, turning the ball over 22 times, resulting in 27 AU points. Lehigh did force 15 American turnovers, with eight steals including four for Steele. Lehigh's bench out-scored American's, 25-6 with Hottinger leading the way, followed by Emma Grothaus with seven points.
The Mountain Hawks had 34 points in the paint throughout, but continued missed layups deflate that number quite a bit.
"That's a little bit of the mental side of it right now of pressing a little harder and able to make free throws but miss layups and continue to commit turnovers," Troyan said. "So we gotta just find our confidence, get back to the basics and play a really tough Army team on Saturday."
The Mountain Hawks now sit in the middle of the pack in the Patriot League with four consecutive league losses. Lehigh will head to West Point on Saturday afternoon to take on Army for the first time this season. That game will tip-off at 1 p.m and will be aired live on Stadium and through a live audio stream on Lehighsports.com.
Like Lehigh Women's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Gallery: (1/29/2020) Women's Basketball vs. American, 1/29/20
Like its game at Lafayette on Saturday, Lehigh took full control of the first quarter of the game, getting out to a 16-10 advantage after the first 10 minutes of play. The Mountain Hawks opened the game on a 9-3 run after Mariah Sexe made a layup to give Lehigh its largest lead at six, before getting out to another six point lead at the end of the quarter. In that frame, Lehigh held American to just 26.7 percent (4-for-15) from the floor, including 33.3 percent (2-for-6) from beyond.
American took over in the second quarter, with a 6-2 run to open the frame, tying the game at 18 with 7:34 left. The Eagles took the lead with 5:59 to play in the quarter before going on an 18-2 run to conclude the stanza heading into halftime with a 30-20 lead over the Mountain Hawks. Lehigh managed to muster just four points, getting out-scored 20-4 in the second after leading by 10 points at the conclusion of the first. Lehigh was just 2-for-9 from the floor in that quarter, while AU shot the lights out, going 61.5 percent (8-for-13) from the floor and 75 percent (3-for-4) from beyond-the-arc.
The Eagles got their lead out to 12 points, up 34-22 with 7:19 to play in the third quarter, before Hannah Hedstrom cut the deficit to 10 with a layup with 7:04 to play. In the final 3:49 of the third quarter, the Mountain Hawks got out to a run of their own, out-scoring AU 8-2 in that timeframe to trail by just four points, 42-38 at the end of the third.
Camryn Buhr got Lehigh going in the fourth quarter with a jumper to bring it within one, 44-43 with 8:41 remaining and then a shot in the paint with 7:59 left to give the Mountain Hawks back the lead, 45-44. Meagan Eripret extend Lehigh's lead to three, with a jumper to make it 47-44 off the Clair Steele assist. That would however be the last lead of the game for Lehigh, as American ended the frame on a 20-9 run, getting the 64-56 victory on the road.
"Our performance just wasn't good enough to be successful," said head coach Sue Troyan. "We typically been a pretty good team in terms of taking care of the ball, but I thought we were almost trying too hard individually in the second quarter versus letting the game come together collectively as a group. That's something we need to get better at."
Buhr finished just a rebound shy of a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds, adding three assists and a steal in 34 minutes. Benz had eight points and five rebounds, while freshman Frannie Hottinger had a great night from the floor, going 4-of-5 with eight points, adding three rebounds in her 15 minutes of playing time.
"I thought Frannie was a great spark off the bench for us when we were struggling to put the ball in the basket and she makes it look pretty easy," said Troyan. "She's got a knack for scoring and is growing, getting better on the defensive end for us too. So hopefully she can continue to get better and we just need to be better down the stretch as a whole and let the game come to us early in the game."
Despite their loss, the Mountain Hawks shot 42.9 percent (24-for-56) from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line. The downfall was the team's turnovers, turning the ball over 22 times, resulting in 27 AU points. Lehigh did force 15 American turnovers, with eight steals including four for Steele. Lehigh's bench out-scored American's, 25-6 with Hottinger leading the way, followed by Emma Grothaus with seven points.
The Mountain Hawks had 34 points in the paint throughout, but continued missed layups deflate that number quite a bit.
"That's a little bit of the mental side of it right now of pressing a little harder and able to make free throws but miss layups and continue to commit turnovers," Troyan said. "So we gotta just find our confidence, get back to the basics and play a really tough Army team on Saturday."
The Mountain Hawks now sit in the middle of the pack in the Patriot League with four consecutive league losses. Lehigh will head to West Point on Saturday afternoon to take on Army for the first time this season. That game will tip-off at 1 p.m and will be aired live on Stadium and through a live audio stream on Lehighsports.com.
Like Lehigh Women's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Team Stats
Americ
Lehigh
FG%
.389
.429
3FG%
.400
.308
FT%
.700
1.000
RB
27
37
TO
15
22
STL
9
8
Game Leaders
Pts
10
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
7
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
G
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