Lehigh University Athletics
Monday, March 9
Hamilton, NY
7 p.m.
Lehigh University
19-11,10-8Patriot
69
at
62
Colgate (Quarterfinals)
19-11,11-7Patriot
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lehigh | 17 | 17 | 22 | 13 | 69 |
| Colgate | 11 | 19 | 19 | 13 | 62 |
Photo by: Justin Wolford
Mountain Hawks soar to semifinals, eliminate Colgate in 69-62 road win
3/9/2020 11:27:00 PM | Women's Basketball
HAMILTON, N.Y. — Another dominant performance against a familiar foe resulted in a big-time Patriot League Tournament road win for the Lehigh women's basketball team, taking down third-seeded Colgate, 69-62 Monday evening at Cotterell Court. The win punches Lehigh's ticket to the semifinal round for the second year in a row and will face Boston U. Thursday evening on the road at Case Gym.
The Mountain Hawks (19-11, 10-8 Patriot) were facing the Raiders (19-11, 11-7 Patriot) for the third time in 20 days and for the second time on the road in less than a week. While Colgate played a more complete game against Lehigh for four quarters than the 86-70 loss last Wednesday, the result remained the same, with the Mountain Hawks leading for majority of the second half.
It was a giant effort from sophomore forward Emma Grothaus, who scored 18 points in 30 minutes on the floor against the Raiders. Grothaus scored in double-figures against Colgate in all three matchups this season.
"She was really impressive tonight," said head coach Sue Troyan. "I've talked a lot about Emma and her potential is so big. As strong as a sophomore year as she has had, her ceiling is really high.
"She can get a lot better, which is exciting and I think she can become one of the best in our league. But it's neat to see how she has blossomed and is playing to her ability and gave Colgate trouble inside tonight."
Colgate took an early 4-0 lead right out of the gate in the first quarter, but Lehigh responded nicely, tying the game at 7-7 with 5:11 left in the first at the media timeout. Junior guard Mary Clougherty completed a pair of 3-pointers to give Lehigh an eight-point cushion with 2:25 remaining, as the Mountain Hawks entered the second stanza with a 17-11 lead.
The second quarter started much of the same for Lehigh, as the Mountain Hawks pounced to take a 10-point lead on two occasions and one with 7:48 to play. However, the Raiders went on a 7-0 run to trail by three points at the 6:45 media timeout. Colgate out-scored Lehigh 8-7 in the final 5:37 with the Mountain Hawks taking a 34-30 lead into the locker room at halftime.
It was a solid firsts half of shooting for Clougherty, who went 3-for-5 from the field for a team-high nine points, but also carried three fouls into the break. The Mountain Hawks were shooting 42.4 percent (14-for-33) from the field in the first half, and were perfect (3-for-3) from the free throw line. While Colgate was shooting 42.9 percent (12-for-28) from the field in the first half of play, the Raiders shot only 16.7 percent (1-for-6) from beyond-the-arc.
Colgate tied things up to start the third quarter on a driving layup for Tegan Graham with 8:37 on the clock, but only led by as many as three points with 7:55 to go before the Mountain Hawks took the game over again. Lehigh went on a 9-2 run to lead by five, 46-41 into the third quarter media timeout with 4:48 to play.
The Raiders went on a 7-2 run of their own in the final 4:21, coming within two points of the lead with 1:36 to play in the third quarter, trailing 50-48. But Clair Steele free throws with 1:23 left sparked six unanswered points capped off by a Megan Walker fast break driving layup off the steal, going coast-to-coast, giving the Mountain Hawks a 56-49 lead heading into the final frame.
The fourth saw Colgate get as close as three points with 8:20 left, but never got any closer than that, as the Mountain Hawks hung on for the six-point win on the road to open the Patriot League Tournament. Defense played a big key for Lehigh in the closing seconds when a defensive stop caused a Colgate turnover, resulting in a foul committed with 0:27 on the clock. Lehigh went back to work at the foul line, hitting its marks, and came away with the 69-62 win.
Emma Grothaus led the way with a team-high 18 points, adding five rebounds with four assists. Megan Walker was second on the team with 15 points, going 5-of-6 from the field and adding three rebounds and two steals. Cameryn Benz had her second consecutive double-double and seventh on the year with 10 points and 10 boards, adding four assists and two steals. Despite getting into early foul trouble, junior guard Mary Clougherty finished with 11 points and two 3-pointers.
"Mary came off the bench and got into some foul trouble," said Troyan. "But she's just been a spark of confidence and I think the rest of the team feeds off of her self-confidence and that's big for the next two games we're going to be playing in."
The Mountain Hawks shot 46.3 percent (25-for-54) from the field and were 84.2 percent (16-for-19) from the free throw line.
Lehigh scored 24 points off 21 Colgate turnovers, while scoring 40 of its 69 points in the paint, out-scoring the Raider bench, 17-7.
Lehigh is now 6-2 all-time against Colgate in the Patriot League Tournament and have won three straight games against the Raiders.
Boston University will play host to Lehigh on Thursday night at 6 p.m., with the Mountain Hawks looking to head to the Championship game for the first time since 2014-15 with an opportunity to win their first Patriot League title since 2009-10.
Thursday night's game will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network and will be aired live from Boston on Fox Sports Radio 1230/1320 AM and 94.7 FM in Allentown with Matt Markus on the play-by-play call.
Like Lehigh Women's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Gallery: (3/9/2020) PL Quarterfinal at Colgate, 3/9/20
The Mountain Hawks (19-11, 10-8 Patriot) were facing the Raiders (19-11, 11-7 Patriot) for the third time in 20 days and for the second time on the road in less than a week. While Colgate played a more complete game against Lehigh for four quarters than the 86-70 loss last Wednesday, the result remained the same, with the Mountain Hawks leading for majority of the second half.
It was a giant effort from sophomore forward Emma Grothaus, who scored 18 points in 30 minutes on the floor against the Raiders. Grothaus scored in double-figures against Colgate in all three matchups this season.
"She was really impressive tonight," said head coach Sue Troyan. "I've talked a lot about Emma and her potential is so big. As strong as a sophomore year as she has had, her ceiling is really high.
"She can get a lot better, which is exciting and I think she can become one of the best in our league. But it's neat to see how she has blossomed and is playing to her ability and gave Colgate trouble inside tonight."
Colgate took an early 4-0 lead right out of the gate in the first quarter, but Lehigh responded nicely, tying the game at 7-7 with 5:11 left in the first at the media timeout. Junior guard Mary Clougherty completed a pair of 3-pointers to give Lehigh an eight-point cushion with 2:25 remaining, as the Mountain Hawks entered the second stanza with a 17-11 lead.
The second quarter started much of the same for Lehigh, as the Mountain Hawks pounced to take a 10-point lead on two occasions and one with 7:48 to play. However, the Raiders went on a 7-0 run to trail by three points at the 6:45 media timeout. Colgate out-scored Lehigh 8-7 in the final 5:37 with the Mountain Hawks taking a 34-30 lead into the locker room at halftime.
It was a solid firsts half of shooting for Clougherty, who went 3-for-5 from the field for a team-high nine points, but also carried three fouls into the break. The Mountain Hawks were shooting 42.4 percent (14-for-33) from the field in the first half, and were perfect (3-for-3) from the free throw line. While Colgate was shooting 42.9 percent (12-for-28) from the field in the first half of play, the Raiders shot only 16.7 percent (1-for-6) from beyond-the-arc.
Colgate tied things up to start the third quarter on a driving layup for Tegan Graham with 8:37 on the clock, but only led by as many as three points with 7:55 to go before the Mountain Hawks took the game over again. Lehigh went on a 9-2 run to lead by five, 46-41 into the third quarter media timeout with 4:48 to play.
The Raiders went on a 7-2 run of their own in the final 4:21, coming within two points of the lead with 1:36 to play in the third quarter, trailing 50-48. But Clair Steele free throws with 1:23 left sparked six unanswered points capped off by a Megan Walker fast break driving layup off the steal, going coast-to-coast, giving the Mountain Hawks a 56-49 lead heading into the final frame.
The fourth saw Colgate get as close as three points with 8:20 left, but never got any closer than that, as the Mountain Hawks hung on for the six-point win on the road to open the Patriot League Tournament. Defense played a big key for Lehigh in the closing seconds when a defensive stop caused a Colgate turnover, resulting in a foul committed with 0:27 on the clock. Lehigh went back to work at the foul line, hitting its marks, and came away with the 69-62 win.
Emma Grothaus led the way with a team-high 18 points, adding five rebounds with four assists. Megan Walker was second on the team with 15 points, going 5-of-6 from the field and adding three rebounds and two steals. Cameryn Benz had her second consecutive double-double and seventh on the year with 10 points and 10 boards, adding four assists and two steals. Despite getting into early foul trouble, junior guard Mary Clougherty finished with 11 points and two 3-pointers.
"Mary came off the bench and got into some foul trouble," said Troyan. "But she's just been a spark of confidence and I think the rest of the team feeds off of her self-confidence and that's big for the next two games we're going to be playing in."
The Mountain Hawks shot 46.3 percent (25-for-54) from the field and were 84.2 percent (16-for-19) from the free throw line.
Lehigh scored 24 points off 21 Colgate turnovers, while scoring 40 of its 69 points in the paint, out-scoring the Raider bench, 17-7.
Lehigh is now 6-2 all-time against Colgate in the Patriot League Tournament and have won three straight games against the Raiders.
Boston University will play host to Lehigh on Thursday night at 6 p.m., with the Mountain Hawks looking to head to the Championship game for the first time since 2014-15 with an opportunity to win their first Patriot League title since 2009-10.
Thursday night's game will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network and will be aired live from Boston on Fox Sports Radio 1230/1320 AM and 94.7 FM in Allentown with Matt Markus on the play-by-play call.
Like Lehigh Women's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Team Stats
Lehigh
Colg
FG%
.463
.426
3FG%
.250
.333
FT%
.842
.600
RB
35
32
TO
20
21
STL
8
12
Game Leaders
Pts
18
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
6
Pts
15
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Pts
10
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
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