Saturday, January 9
Bethlehem, Pa.
6:30 p.m.
Lehigh University
3-0,3-0Patriot
79
vs
70
American
0-1,0-1Patriot
1
2
3
4
F
American
17
11
16
26
70
Lehigh
26
13
22
18
79
Photo by: Justin Lafleur
Minnesotans lead inspiring effort as Mountain Hawks take down American, 79-70
1/9/2021 9:51:00 PM | Women's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Playing with heavy hearts in loving memory of junior Emma Grothaus' mother Erica, who passed away last Sunday, the Lehigh women's basketball team fought valiantly and put on an inspiring show, defeating American 79-70 Saturday night at Stabler Arena. The win pushes the Mountain Hawks to 3-0 to start the season for the third year in a row.
The victory is also Lehigh's first at home against American since the 2009-10 season when the Mountain Hawks claimed their third Patriot League title in program history. Lehigh has taken two of the last three matchups vs. AU.
Like Grothaus, it was three Minnesotans who carried most of the offensive workload on the night with freshman Mackenzie Kramer dropping a career-high 21 points, while sophomore Frannie Hottinger scored a career-high 18 points and junior Megan Walker had 15.
"On the offensive end, we have a lot of kids who are real capable scorers," said head coach Sue Troyan following the victory. "It's a real unselfish team. It's about getting the open person the open shot, so I think it's a combination of having those capable scorers and having a team-first mentality. We also have a lot of players on this team with high basketball IQ's."
In the first quarter of play, it was mostly a back-and-forth affair, but the Mountain Hawks went on an 8-1 to end the quarter capped off by back-to-back 3-pointers from freshmen Maddie Albrecht and Kramer to lead 26-17 at the first break.
Two made shots to open the second had Lehigh out in front by 13 points, but American cut it back to nine on the basket from Lauren Stack with 4:19 to play. 3-pointers from freshman Jamie Behar and sophomore Anna Harvey kept the Mountain Hawks hot, but Kramer was fouled outside the arc with 2:34 on the clock to shoot three free throws, putting Lehigh up 16, 39-23. Lehigh led by 11 heading into the locker room after AU scored five unanswered points.
With a 12-point cushion in the third quarter, Lehigh got seven in a row off three baskets to take a 19-point, 51-32 advantage with 5:09 remaining. A Kramer layup with 1:26 to play in the quarter had Lehigh out to its largest lead of the game at 21 points, leading 61-40.
The fourth quarter saw the Eagles make their push, going on a 17-3 run to trim the Lehigh lead to just three points with 5:10 left in regulation. That was after the Mountain Hawks led by 17 at the end of the third frame.
Behar gave Lehigh a little bit of breathing room after converting on a three-point play, a layup, the foul and a shot at the line, as the Mountain Hawks took a six-point lead with 4:55 to go.
"We know that basketball is a game of runs, we had our run and we knew that American is a really good team, they were going to make their run," said Troyan. "For us, it's about responding to runs. We went through a stretch where we missed eight straight shots, good shots, but that's basketball sometimes.
"We have a very confident group of players who got back into it and got some important defensive stops which helped us to knock down some shots late as well."
Walker scored on a layup with 1:16 to play to get the lead back out to 12 points and it was too much for the Eagles to handle, as the Mountain Hawks held on for the 79-70 victory.
Kramer scored her 21 points with four 3-pointers, adding two assists and two rebounds. Hottinger was a perfect 4-for-4 from the foul line, with nine rebounds and two assists, while Walker scored her 15 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the field with a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond-the-arc.
Getting the start was Patriot League Player of the Week Mary Clougherty, who despite scoring just three points on the night, contributed in other ways, grabbing seven rebounds with four assists. Junior Clair Steele had a career-high six assists with four points and two rebounds and Jamie Behar scored the first eight points of her young career to go along with two rebounds, an assist and a steal.
The Mountain Hawks were lethal shooting the ball, going 46.7 percent (28-for-60) from the field and 41.9 percent (13-for-31) from long range. They also shot the ball 83.3 percent (10-for-12) from the charity stripe. Six steals on the defensive end led to 17 American turnovers as Lehigh's bench out-scored the Eagles, 35-18 on the night.
American was led by Jade Edwards who scored 16 points with four rebounds and four assists. Indeya Sanders and Ivy Bales each registered 10 points for the Eagles.
Lehigh and American will do it all over again on Monday afternoon at 2 p.m., streamed live on ESPN+.
Like Lehigh Women's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
The victory is also Lehigh's first at home against American since the 2009-10 season when the Mountain Hawks claimed their third Patriot League title in program history. Lehigh has taken two of the last three matchups vs. AU.
Like Grothaus, it was three Minnesotans who carried most of the offensive workload on the night with freshman Mackenzie Kramer dropping a career-high 21 points, while sophomore Frannie Hottinger scored a career-high 18 points and junior Megan Walker had 15.
"On the offensive end, we have a lot of kids who are real capable scorers," said head coach Sue Troyan following the victory. "It's a real unselfish team. It's about getting the open person the open shot, so I think it's a combination of having those capable scorers and having a team-first mentality. We also have a lot of players on this team with high basketball IQ's."
In the first quarter of play, it was mostly a back-and-forth affair, but the Mountain Hawks went on an 8-1 to end the quarter capped off by back-to-back 3-pointers from freshmen Maddie Albrecht and Kramer to lead 26-17 at the first break.
Two made shots to open the second had Lehigh out in front by 13 points, but American cut it back to nine on the basket from Lauren Stack with 4:19 to play. 3-pointers from freshman Jamie Behar and sophomore Anna Harvey kept the Mountain Hawks hot, but Kramer was fouled outside the arc with 2:34 on the clock to shoot three free throws, putting Lehigh up 16, 39-23. Lehigh led by 11 heading into the locker room after AU scored five unanswered points.
With a 12-point cushion in the third quarter, Lehigh got seven in a row off three baskets to take a 19-point, 51-32 advantage with 5:09 remaining. A Kramer layup with 1:26 to play in the quarter had Lehigh out to its largest lead of the game at 21 points, leading 61-40.
The fourth quarter saw the Eagles make their push, going on a 17-3 run to trim the Lehigh lead to just three points with 5:10 left in regulation. That was after the Mountain Hawks led by 17 at the end of the third frame.
Behar gave Lehigh a little bit of breathing room after converting on a three-point play, a layup, the foul and a shot at the line, as the Mountain Hawks took a six-point lead with 4:55 to go.
"We know that basketball is a game of runs, we had our run and we knew that American is a really good team, they were going to make their run," said Troyan. "For us, it's about responding to runs. We went through a stretch where we missed eight straight shots, good shots, but that's basketball sometimes.
"We have a very confident group of players who got back into it and got some important defensive stops which helped us to knock down some shots late as well."
Walker scored on a layup with 1:16 to play to get the lead back out to 12 points and it was too much for the Eagles to handle, as the Mountain Hawks held on for the 79-70 victory.
Kramer scored her 21 points with four 3-pointers, adding two assists and two rebounds. Hottinger was a perfect 4-for-4 from the foul line, with nine rebounds and two assists, while Walker scored her 15 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the field with a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond-the-arc.
Getting the start was Patriot League Player of the Week Mary Clougherty, who despite scoring just three points on the night, contributed in other ways, grabbing seven rebounds with four assists. Junior Clair Steele had a career-high six assists with four points and two rebounds and Jamie Behar scored the first eight points of her young career to go along with two rebounds, an assist and a steal.
The Mountain Hawks were lethal shooting the ball, going 46.7 percent (28-for-60) from the field and 41.9 percent (13-for-31) from long range. They also shot the ball 83.3 percent (10-for-12) from the charity stripe. Six steals on the defensive end led to 17 American turnovers as Lehigh's bench out-scored the Eagles, 35-18 on the night.
The lead changed just once on the night as it was nearly a wire-to-wire victory for the Mountain Hawks, only trailing at the 8:46 mark in the first quarter when the score was 4-2. From that point forward, it was Lehigh's game.Roll the tape! 📼
— Lehigh Women's Basketball (@LehighWBB) January 10, 2021
A great team victory tonight against American, as we get to 3-0 on the young season.#GoLehigh | #SoarWithUs pic.twitter.com/X0JbXuzReL
American was led by Jade Edwards who scored 16 points with four rebounds and four assists. Indeya Sanders and Ivy Bales each registered 10 points for the Eagles.
Lehigh and American will do it all over again on Monday afternoon at 2 p.m., streamed live on ESPN+.
Like Lehigh Women's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Tonight, we play this game in loving memory of Erica Grothaus. 🤎🤍 pic.twitter.com/RKZRpii9PI
— Lehigh Women's Basketball (@LehighWBB) January 9, 2021
Team Stats
Americ
Lehigh
FG%
.463
.467
3FG%
.375
.419
FT%
.667
.833
RB
33
32
TO
17
13
STL
7
6
Game Leaders
Pts
21
FGM
6
3FGM
4
FTM
5
Pts
18
FGM
6
3FGM
2
FTM
4
Pts
15
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's BasketballG/F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG/F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
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