Saturday, January 30
Lewisburg, Pa.
2 p.m.
Lehigh University
at
Bucknell
Photo by: Hannahally Photography
Mountain Hawks look to overcome Bucknell in crucial weekend series
1/29/2021 10:30:00 AM | Women's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Despite originally having the games postponed, the pair of contests against Bucknell are back on due to a lab error for COVID-19 test results, as the Lehigh women's basketball team looks to earn its seventh and eighth wins of the 2019-20 season. Lehigh will visit Bucknell Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. at Sojka Pavilion and will host the Bison Sunday at Stabler Arena for a 4 p.m. tip-off.
Lehigh seemed to have found its winning stride once again last weekend, cruising to two dominant victories over Holy Cross at Stabler Arena.
The victories marked the third weekend sweep of the season for the Mountain Hawks, improving to 6-2 on the season, the third best record in the Patriot League this season.
For Lehigh, it was the weekend of top performers as it got a career effort out of senior forward Mariah Sexe, scoring a career-high 25 points with 10 rebounds for her first career double-double against the Crusaders on Saturday. She also had 16 points and nine rebounds in Sunday's win and was named Patriot League Player of the Week for her standout weekend.
The Mountain Hawks also got a standout performance out of sophomore wing Frannie Hottinger, who scored 19 points with 10 boards on Saturday and a career-high 27 points on Sunday along with seven rebounds. Hottinger leads her teammates at 15.3 points per game and seven rebounds per contest through the first eight games.
Mary Clougherty was excellent as well over the weekend, doing many little things to perfection. She notched a career-high in assists on Saturday with six, but on Sunday, scored 15 points with seven rebounds and a new career-high in assists with seven.
The Mountain Hawks are looking to improve to 7-2 to start the season in Patriot League play for the first time since the 2009-10 season and 7-2 overall to start the year for the third straight season.
Despite having its games postponed last weekend, Bucknell still comes into this weekend as the team to beat in the Patriot League, unbeaten at 6-0 through the first six contests of the year.
In fact, the last games the Bison played two weekends ago were against the Mountain Hawks, both wins for the program.
Bucknell comes into the weekend ranked No. 17 in CollegeInsider.com's Mid-Major Top 25 poll and is currently ranked No. 26 in the NCAA Division I NET Rankings. Two more wins over Lehigh would all but guarantee the Bison the Central Division crown and one of the top three seeds in the Patriot League Tournament, as they are currently two games up on the Mountain Hawks.
Currently, the Bison have won 15 straight games dating back to last season, the longest winning streak in program history and the fifth-longest active streak in NCAA women's basketball. Bucknell is ranked second in the nation for assist/turnover ratio and is the leader in committing the fewest turnovers per game (9.2).
While Bucknell is third in the country in 3-point field goal percentage (41.7), senior Abby Kapp needs just seven 3-pointers to pass Molly Creamer (195) as the program's all-time leader. The Bison haven't been out-rebounded in 15 straight games and a big part of that is senior Tessa Brugler, who ranks second in the Patriot League, averaging 10.8 rebounds per game.
The Bison are 87-10 against Patriot League opponents since the 2015-16 season and hold an overall mark of 132-36 during that span as well.
This weekend will mark the 90th and 91st all-time matchups between Lehigh and Bucknell, which dates back to Feb. 22, 1977. The Bison lead the all-time series, 46-43.
Bucknell has won 12 of the last 13 meetings against Lehigh since the 2014-15 season. The Mountain Hawks have dropped seven straight to the Bison, most recently getting the victory on Jan. 11, 2018 at Stabler Arena. They have not won in Lewisburg since Feb. 20, 2013. Bucknell leads Lehigh in Patriot League play all-time, 37-25.
Bucknell got the better of Lehigh in both matchups earlier this season, a close loss at Stabler, 68-60 on Jan. 16 and an 80-66 defeat in Lewisburg on Jan. 17. The Mountain Hawks are hoping to avoid getting swept by the Bison in the season series for the third season in a row.
Both games will be streamed live on ESPN+, with Matt Markus (PxP) and Matt Kerr (Color) set to be on the call on Sunday.
Like Lehigh Women's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Lehigh seemed to have found its winning stride once again last weekend, cruising to two dominant victories over Holy Cross at Stabler Arena.
The victories marked the third weekend sweep of the season for the Mountain Hawks, improving to 6-2 on the season, the third best record in the Patriot League this season.
For Lehigh, it was the weekend of top performers as it got a career effort out of senior forward Mariah Sexe, scoring a career-high 25 points with 10 rebounds for her first career double-double against the Crusaders on Saturday. She also had 16 points and nine rebounds in Sunday's win and was named Patriot League Player of the Week for her standout weekend.
The Mountain Hawks also got a standout performance out of sophomore wing Frannie Hottinger, who scored 19 points with 10 boards on Saturday and a career-high 27 points on Sunday along with seven rebounds. Hottinger leads her teammates at 15.3 points per game and seven rebounds per contest through the first eight games.
Mary Clougherty was excellent as well over the weekend, doing many little things to perfection. She notched a career-high in assists on Saturday with six, but on Sunday, scored 15 points with seven rebounds and a new career-high in assists with seven.
The Mountain Hawks are looking to improve to 7-2 to start the season in Patriot League play for the first time since the 2009-10 season and 7-2 overall to start the year for the third straight season.
Despite having its games postponed last weekend, Bucknell still comes into this weekend as the team to beat in the Patriot League, unbeaten at 6-0 through the first six contests of the year.
In fact, the last games the Bison played two weekends ago were against the Mountain Hawks, both wins for the program.
Bucknell comes into the weekend ranked No. 17 in CollegeInsider.com's Mid-Major Top 25 poll and is currently ranked No. 26 in the NCAA Division I NET Rankings. Two more wins over Lehigh would all but guarantee the Bison the Central Division crown and one of the top three seeds in the Patriot League Tournament, as they are currently two games up on the Mountain Hawks.
Currently, the Bison have won 15 straight games dating back to last season, the longest winning streak in program history and the fifth-longest active streak in NCAA women's basketball. Bucknell is ranked second in the nation for assist/turnover ratio and is the leader in committing the fewest turnovers per game (9.2).
While Bucknell is third in the country in 3-point field goal percentage (41.7), senior Abby Kapp needs just seven 3-pointers to pass Molly Creamer (195) as the program's all-time leader. The Bison haven't been out-rebounded in 15 straight games and a big part of that is senior Tessa Brugler, who ranks second in the Patriot League, averaging 10.8 rebounds per game.
The Bison are 87-10 against Patriot League opponents since the 2015-16 season and hold an overall mark of 132-36 during that span as well.
This weekend will mark the 90th and 91st all-time matchups between Lehigh and Bucknell, which dates back to Feb. 22, 1977. The Bison lead the all-time series, 46-43.
Bucknell has won 12 of the last 13 meetings against Lehigh since the 2014-15 season. The Mountain Hawks have dropped seven straight to the Bison, most recently getting the victory on Jan. 11, 2018 at Stabler Arena. They have not won in Lewisburg since Feb. 20, 2013. Bucknell leads Lehigh in Patriot League play all-time, 37-25.
Bucknell got the better of Lehigh in both matchups earlier this season, a close loss at Stabler, 68-60 on Jan. 16 and an 80-66 defeat in Lewisburg on Jan. 17. The Mountain Hawks are hoping to avoid getting swept by the Bison in the season series for the third season in a row.
Both games will be streamed live on ESPN+, with Matt Markus (PxP) and Matt Kerr (Color) set to be on the call on Sunday.
Like Lehigh Women's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
| Date: | January 30 & 31, 2021 |
| Opponent: | Bucknell Bison |
| Tip-off: | 2 p.m. (1/30) 4 p.m. (1/31) |
| Arena: | Sojka Pavilion (1/30) Stabler Arena (1/31) |
| Location: | Lewisburg, Pa. (1/30) Bethlehem, Pa. (1/31) |
| Lehigh's Record: | 6-2, 2-2 Central |
| Bucknell's Record: | 6-0, 4-0 Central |
| Series: | Bucknell leads, 46-43 |
| TV: | ESPN+ (1/30) ESPN+ (1/31) w/ Matt Markus (PxP) and Matt Kerr (Color) |
Players Mentioned
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