Lehigh University Athletics
Wednesday, January 8
Bethlehem, Pa.
6 p.m.
Lehigh University
11-3,3-0Patriot
51
vs
34
Boston University
6-8,1-2Patriot
1
2
3
4
F
Boston U.
10
12
6
6
34
Lehigh
10
16
19
6
51
Photo by: Josh Liddick
Lehigh's 3-point barrage seals 51-34 win over Boston U.
1/8/2020 9:38:00 PM | Women's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The Lehigh women's basketball team had no issues finding its rhythm from downtown on Wednesday night, hitting a season-high 12 3-pointers en route to a 51-34 victory over Boston University at Stabler Arena. The win extends Lehigh's win streak to four straight, its home win streak to nine straight dating back to last season and its regular season Patriot League win streak to eight straight also dating back to last year.
Of those 12, Megan Walker had a career-high five, while Hannah Hedstrom had a career-high three from long range with Mariah Sexe finishing with a pair of treys.
The 34 points given up to the Terriers are the least a Lehigh team has allowed since Jan. 23, 2013 when the Mountain Hawks bested Bucknell, 53-37.
It was a slow first quarter of play for the Mountain Hawks, ending the frame all tied up with the Terriers at 10. Boston University scored the final four points of the quarter, overcoming a four-point deficit to force the tie to end it. Maggie Pina ended the quarter with a fast-break layup with just 10 seconds on the clock. Lehigh struggled shooting the ball after the first 10 minutes of play, going just 4-for-16 from the field, including 2-of-8 from 3-point land.
Lehigh took its largest lead of the game, a five-point lead with 4:17 remaining in the second quarter after Sexe hit a jumper in the paint, leading 23-18 into the media timeout. A Clair Steele 3 with 3:06 left was all the Mountain Hawks could gather up in that final four minutes, leading Boston U by just four points, 26-22 at the end of the first half.
The opening three and a half minutes of the third quarter belonged to Walker and Lehigh, who hit a pair of 3-pointers to put the Mountain Hawks up by 10, 32-22 forcing the Terriers to use a 30-second timeout with 6:40 remaining. Walker added two more from downtown in the next two minutes with a 3 that extended Lehigh's lead to 14 with 4:55 left and one that gave the Mountain Hawks a game-high 17-point lead, up 41-24 with 3:59 left to cap a 12-2 run to cause BU to burn another 30-second timeout.
Gena Grundhoffer executed on a jumper with 37 seconds left to extend Lehigh's lead back to 17 points, a 45-28 advantage heading into the final stanza. The Mountain Hawks thrived in the third quarter offensively, out-scoring the Terriers, 19-9 in the frame, with 15 of the team's 19 points coming from Walker beyond-the-arc and a 3-point play from Emma Grothaus.
Walker continued to show why she was the hot hand for the Mountain Hawks by opening the fourth quarter with a 3 to put Lehigh up by 18, 48-30 with 9:18 remaining. Hedstrom drilled her third 3-pointer of the evening with 4:56 left to extend Lehigh's lead to 51-33, but that would be the final score of the night for the Mountain Hawks, who scored just six points in the fourth on 2-of-11 shooting, but came away with the solid 17-point victory over BU.
"I thought our girls played very well on both sides of the ball tonight," said head coach Sue Troyan. "Great defensive effort, we didn't allow them to get comfortable with what they wanted to do. We talked a lot to our team before the game about doing things that would take their strengths away from them, I thought our defense did a great job of that.
"On the offensive end, it was a night where we knew we were going to see zone defense, we knew we had to shoot the perimeter shot pretty well and they fell for us."
Walker's career performance led the team with 15 points, also adding a rebound and an assist to go along with her five 3-pointers, also a career-high.
"Meg played great tonight," Troyan said. "She missed her first two or three, but she stayed focused and kept shooting them. They started falling for her and I think that gave her teammates confidence, as Mariah [Sexe] had a couple big threes in the first half and it seems like when Hannah [Hedstrom] starts making them, they all start making them."
Hedstrom also had a strong offensive showing with a season-high 11 points, an assist and two steals to go along with her career-high three 3-pointers. Sexe finished with eight points, four rebounds and two assists, while Cameryn Benz finished as Lehigh's leading rebounder with seven, adding four assists and three steals. Katie Rice registered three steals to go along with two boards in nearly 10 minutes off the bench.
The Mountain Hawks only shot 29.7 percent (19-for-64), but the team converted on 40 percent (12-for-30) from beyond. The team's 12 3-pointers in a single game is the most since Jan. 26, 2019 at Army West Point when Lehigh went 13-for-24 from downtown in a 73-50 win over the Black Knights.
Lehigh held BU to just 28.6 percent (12-for-42) from the field, including zero percent (0-for-12) from deep. The Mountain Hawks scored 15 points off of 21 BU turnovers with 11 second-chance points and just eight bench points, the lowest total of the season so far.
On Saturday, the Mountain Hawks travel to American to face the Eagles from Bender Arena with tip-off set for 1 p.m. Lehigh will look to snap a seven-game skid to AU.
Lehigh held Boston University to under 40 percent shooting. Fans in attendance received a free appetizer with the purchase of two entrees courtesy of The Brick in Bethlehem.
Like Lehigh Women's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Gallery: (1/8/2020) Women's Basketball vs. Boston U, 1/8/20
Of those 12, Megan Walker had a career-high five, while Hannah Hedstrom had a career-high three from long range with Mariah Sexe finishing with a pair of treys.
The 34 points given up to the Terriers are the least a Lehigh team has allowed since Jan. 23, 2013 when the Mountain Hawks bested Bucknell, 53-37.
It was a slow first quarter of play for the Mountain Hawks, ending the frame all tied up with the Terriers at 10. Boston University scored the final four points of the quarter, overcoming a four-point deficit to force the tie to end it. Maggie Pina ended the quarter with a fast-break layup with just 10 seconds on the clock. Lehigh struggled shooting the ball after the first 10 minutes of play, going just 4-for-16 from the field, including 2-of-8 from 3-point land.
Lehigh took its largest lead of the game, a five-point lead with 4:17 remaining in the second quarter after Sexe hit a jumper in the paint, leading 23-18 into the media timeout. A Clair Steele 3 with 3:06 left was all the Mountain Hawks could gather up in that final four minutes, leading Boston U by just four points, 26-22 at the end of the first half.
The opening three and a half minutes of the third quarter belonged to Walker and Lehigh, who hit a pair of 3-pointers to put the Mountain Hawks up by 10, 32-22 forcing the Terriers to use a 30-second timeout with 6:40 remaining. Walker added two more from downtown in the next two minutes with a 3 that extended Lehigh's lead to 14 with 4:55 left and one that gave the Mountain Hawks a game-high 17-point lead, up 41-24 with 3:59 left to cap a 12-2 run to cause BU to burn another 30-second timeout.
Was there ever a doubt? Megan Walker drains her career-best FOURTH 3 of the game to put the Mountain Hawks up by 17 with 3:51 to play. Watch: @PatriotLeagueTV. #GoLehigh pic.twitter.com/mzA1mgzaKb
— Lehigh Women's Basketball (@LehighWBB) January 9, 2020
Gena Grundhoffer executed on a jumper with 37 seconds left to extend Lehigh's lead back to 17 points, a 45-28 advantage heading into the final stanza. The Mountain Hawks thrived in the third quarter offensively, out-scoring the Terriers, 19-9 in the frame, with 15 of the team's 19 points coming from Walker beyond-the-arc and a 3-point play from Emma Grothaus.
Walker continued to show why she was the hot hand for the Mountain Hawks by opening the fourth quarter with a 3 to put Lehigh up by 18, 48-30 with 9:18 remaining. Hedstrom drilled her third 3-pointer of the evening with 4:56 left to extend Lehigh's lead to 51-33, but that would be the final score of the night for the Mountain Hawks, who scored just six points in the fourth on 2-of-11 shooting, but came away with the solid 17-point victory over BU.
"I thought our girls played very well on both sides of the ball tonight," said head coach Sue Troyan. "Great defensive effort, we didn't allow them to get comfortable with what they wanted to do. We talked a lot to our team before the game about doing things that would take their strengths away from them, I thought our defense did a great job of that.
"On the offensive end, it was a night where we knew we were going to see zone defense, we knew we had to shoot the perimeter shot pretty well and they fell for us."
Walker's career performance led the team with 15 points, also adding a rebound and an assist to go along with her five 3-pointers, also a career-high.
"Meg played great tonight," Troyan said. "She missed her first two or three, but she stayed focused and kept shooting them. They started falling for her and I think that gave her teammates confidence, as Mariah [Sexe] had a couple big threes in the first half and it seems like when Hannah [Hedstrom] starts making them, they all start making them."
Hedstrom also had a strong offensive showing with a season-high 11 points, an assist and two steals to go along with her career-high three 3-pointers. Sexe finished with eight points, four rebounds and two assists, while Cameryn Benz finished as Lehigh's leading rebounder with seven, adding four assists and three steals. Katie Rice registered three steals to go along with two boards in nearly 10 minutes off the bench.
How did she do that?! Hannah Hedstrom dodges two defenders and manages to still get this shot off and get it to fall. Unreal play by the senior. Watch: @PatriotLeagueTV. #GoLehigh #PLTop3 pic.twitter.com/v4cogJxRcF
— Lehigh Women's Basketball (@LehighWBB) January 9, 2020
The Mountain Hawks only shot 29.7 percent (19-for-64), but the team converted on 40 percent (12-for-30) from beyond. The team's 12 3-pointers in a single game is the most since Jan. 26, 2019 at Army West Point when Lehigh went 13-for-24 from downtown in a 73-50 win over the Black Knights.
Lehigh held BU to just 28.6 percent (12-for-42) from the field, including zero percent (0-for-12) from deep. The Mountain Hawks scored 15 points off of 21 BU turnovers with 11 second-chance points and just eight bench points, the lowest total of the season so far.
On Saturday, the Mountain Hawks travel to American to face the Eagles from Bender Arena with tip-off set for 1 p.m. Lehigh will look to snap a seven-game skid to AU.
Lehigh held Boston University to under 40 percent shooting. Fans in attendance received a free appetizer with the purchase of two entrees courtesy of The Brick in Bethlehem.
Like Lehigh Women's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Team Stats
BU
Lehigh
FG%
.286
.297
3FG%
.000
.400
FT%
.625
1.000
RB
39
33
TO
21
10
STL
5
15
Game Leaders
Pts
15
FGM
5
3FGM
5
FTM
0
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
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Interview after Bucknell win 1/3/25
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