Tuesday, November 9
Bethlehem, Pa.
7:30 p.m.
Lehigh University
1-0,0-0Patriot
82
vs
35
East Stroudsburg
0-0,0-0PSAC
1
2
3
4
F
East Stroudsburg
8
5
15
7
35
Lehigh
16
20
16
30
82
Photo by: Morgan Weindel
Mountain Hawks entertain sold-out Grace Hall crowd with 82-35 win over ESU
11/9/2021 11:52:00 PM | Women's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Starting the Patriot League title defense on a high note, the Lehigh women's basketball team cruised to victory in its opening matchup of the season, an 82-35 win over East Stroudsburg in front of a sold-out Grace Hall crowd for Throwback Night presented by Lehigh University's College of Business MS in Management Program. The Mountain Hawks (1-0, 0-0 PL) used a 30-7 run in the fourth quarter and forced 32 ESU turnovers to come away with the dominant opening night win in a venue that hasn't seen a basketball game in 30 years.
"We were excited to have the opportunity to play a game in Grace," said head coach Sue Troyan. "We're very appreciative of our administrative staff and support we had to be able to put on the game here tonight. I thought it was a great atmosphere with lots of students, faculty and staff. It really made a fun environment for our kids to play in.
"We didn't shoot the ball that well through the first three quarters. But most of our shots I liked in our offense tonight. It's a big part of our game and I said to our coaches, when they're falling you love it, when they're not, you're sometimes pulling out your hair but in the fourth quarter we went 6-for-9 to finish it out and that's the potency of this team and the belief we have in them. So there were four or five shots I didn't like, but honestly a lot of the shots we take within our offense we practice every day. It's a big part of what we do and how we play the game and I think we need to remember that we're a team that can go on some pretty significant runs with our ability to go up and down."
Lehigh was offensively led by junior wing Frannie Hottinger with a game-high 19 points on 9-for-15 shooting, adding eight rebounds, two assists and two steals. She paced a team that shot 46.3 percent (31-for-67) from the field, holding the Warriors to just 25 percent (13-for-52).
It took a little while for the Mountain Hawks to get going in the first quarter, but they took a 10-3 lead into the media timeout with 3:58 to play following a layup for senior Emma Grothaus, her first points of the night. ESU came back within two points with a 3-pointer and driving layup, but the Mountain Hawks scored six unanswered to end the stanza with a 16-8 advantage.
Lehigh opened the second frame on a 10-0 run to take a 26-8 lead with 5:33 to play following five points and a 3-pointer for Hottinger. Katie Geisler broke the scoring drought with 3:35 to go to bring ESU within 16 points, but the Mountain Hawks continued the onslaught with 10 more unanswered points to take a 36-10 lead with 32 seconds left. The Warriors converted on a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the first half to cut the deficit to 23 heading into the locker room.
Hottinger led all scorers with 13 first half points and six boards, while the Mountain Hawks were shooting 51.6 percent (16-for-31) from the field and holding ESU to 21.7 percent (5-for-23) from the field overall.
Lehigh took over in the fourth quarter thanks to six of the team's nine 3-pointers all coming during the period. The first of six came from freshman Kaylee Van Eps with 8:48 to go and the team took off from there. Junior Anna Harvey made another to put Lehigh up by 34 and Kramer got a 3-pointer off a turnover to put the Mountain Hawks ahead by 37. Harvey got the Mountain Hawks their fourth consecutive 3-point field goal with 6:25 to go to extend the lead to 38 points at 68-30 following the ESU layup.
The Mountain Hawks scored each of the final six baskets of the contest to win by 47 points, the sixth largest margin of victory in program history and biggest since beating Bloomsburg by 48 points back on Dec. 3, 2019 at Stabler Arena.
Hottinger's 19 points with eight rebounds led the team, while Kramer added 15 points with three boards, three assists and four steals. She also went a team-best 3-for-6 from beyond-the-arc. Harvey finished third with eight points on a pair of 3-pointers. Senior Clair Steele led the team with five assists, also adding three steals. Grothaus scored seven points with seven rebounds and a block. All three freshmen had a hand in the scoring output on Tuesday in their collegiate debuts led by Van Eps (7 points), Meghan O'Brien (6) and Ella Stemmer (2).
"I was excited that we were able to get the whole team involved tonight," Troyan said. "I think this is a team that we feel we have a really deep bench and we want kids to compete for those minutes. So I think week by week, those rotations are going to change so those kids, every time they have an opportunity to get on the court, they come out and do their best and I think you saw that today."
The Mountain Hawks shot 46.3 percent (31-for-67) from the field but just 25 percent (9-for-36) from beyond and 78.6 percent (11-for-14) from the charity stripe. Lehigh out-scored ESU in points off turnovers (38-6), points in the paint (36-14), second chance points (15-7), points off fast breaks (28-7) and bench points (37-11). The Mountain Hawks led for nearly the entirety of the contest aside from the first minute of the game and led by as many as 47 points by the conclusion.
For ESU, Corrin Gill led the team with nine points while Izzy Vogel had six points and nine rebounds.
Lehigh will host Saint Peter's on Friday night at Stabler Arena at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ (subscription required).
Lehigh Women's Basketball held East Stroudsburg 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: (11-9-2021) WBB vs. ESU, 11/9/21
"We were excited to have the opportunity to play a game in Grace," said head coach Sue Troyan. "We're very appreciative of our administrative staff and support we had to be able to put on the game here tonight. I thought it was a great atmosphere with lots of students, faculty and staff. It really made a fun environment for our kids to play in.
"We didn't shoot the ball that well through the first three quarters. But most of our shots I liked in our offense tonight. It's a big part of our game and I said to our coaches, when they're falling you love it, when they're not, you're sometimes pulling out your hair but in the fourth quarter we went 6-for-9 to finish it out and that's the potency of this team and the belief we have in them. So there were four or five shots I didn't like, but honestly a lot of the shots we take within our offense we practice every day. It's a big part of what we do and how we play the game and I think we need to remember that we're a team that can go on some pretty significant runs with our ability to go up and down."
Lehigh was offensively led by junior wing Frannie Hottinger with a game-high 19 points on 9-for-15 shooting, adding eight rebounds, two assists and two steals. She paced a team that shot 46.3 percent (31-for-67) from the field, holding the Warriors to just 25 percent (13-for-52).
It took a little while for the Mountain Hawks to get going in the first quarter, but they took a 10-3 lead into the media timeout with 3:58 to play following a layup for senior Emma Grothaus, her first points of the night. ESU came back within two points with a 3-pointer and driving layup, but the Mountain Hawks scored six unanswered to end the stanza with a 16-8 advantage.
Lehigh opened the second frame on a 10-0 run to take a 26-8 lead with 5:33 to play following five points and a 3-pointer for Hottinger. Katie Geisler broke the scoring drought with 3:35 to go to bring ESU within 16 points, but the Mountain Hawks continued the onslaught with 10 more unanswered points to take a 36-10 lead with 32 seconds left. The Warriors converted on a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the first half to cut the deficit to 23 heading into the locker room.
Hottinger led all scorers with 13 first half points and six boards, while the Mountain Hawks were shooting 51.6 percent (16-for-31) from the field and holding ESU to 21.7 percent (5-for-23) from the field overall.
The Warriors started the second half with a basket, but the Mountain Hawks got out to their largest lead of the game to that point at 28 points with 6:40 to go after sophomore Mackenzie Kramer converted on a shot from long range to make it 43-15. The Warriors answered with seven consecutive points to trim the Lehigh lead back down to 21, making it 19 after a Leah Pishock layup with 3:42 to play. ESU got the deficit all the way down to 17 points at 45-28 with 2:23 left, but the Mountain Hawks used a run of seven straight points to lead by 24 heading into the final stanza.Starting the new year with a dub! A (Throw)back to our winning ways! 💪🙌
— Lehigh Women's Basketball (@LehighWBB) November 10, 2021
Roll that tape! 🎥 pic.twitter.com/g5SYMTk7OV
Lehigh took over in the fourth quarter thanks to six of the team's nine 3-pointers all coming during the period. The first of six came from freshman Kaylee Van Eps with 8:48 to go and the team took off from there. Junior Anna Harvey made another to put Lehigh up by 34 and Kramer got a 3-pointer off a turnover to put the Mountain Hawks ahead by 37. Harvey got the Mountain Hawks their fourth consecutive 3-point field goal with 6:25 to go to extend the lead to 38 points at 68-30 following the ESU layup.
The Mountain Hawks scored each of the final six baskets of the contest to win by 47 points, the sixth largest margin of victory in program history and biggest since beating Bloomsburg by 48 points back on Dec. 3, 2019 at Stabler Arena.
Hottinger's 19 points with eight rebounds led the team, while Kramer added 15 points with three boards, three assists and four steals. She also went a team-best 3-for-6 from beyond-the-arc. Harvey finished third with eight points on a pair of 3-pointers. Senior Clair Steele led the team with five assists, also adding three steals. Grothaus scored seven points with seven rebounds and a block. All three freshmen had a hand in the scoring output on Tuesday in their collegiate debuts led by Van Eps (7 points), Meghan O'Brien (6) and Ella Stemmer (2).
"I was excited that we were able to get the whole team involved tonight," Troyan said. "I think this is a team that we feel we have a really deep bench and we want kids to compete for those minutes. So I think week by week, those rotations are going to change so those kids, every time they have an opportunity to get on the court, they come out and do their best and I think you saw that today."
The Mountain Hawks shot 46.3 percent (31-for-67) from the field but just 25 percent (9-for-36) from beyond and 78.6 percent (11-for-14) from the charity stripe. Lehigh out-scored ESU in points off turnovers (38-6), points in the paint (36-14), second chance points (15-7), points off fast breaks (28-7) and bench points (37-11). The Mountain Hawks led for nearly the entirety of the contest aside from the first minute of the game and led by as many as 47 points by the conclusion.
For ESU, Corrin Gill led the team with nine points while Izzy Vogel had six points and nine rebounds.
Lehigh will host Saint Peter's on Friday night at Stabler Arena at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ (subscription required).
Lehigh Women's Basketball held East Stroudsburg 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
ESU
Lehigh
FG%
.250
.463
3FG%
.267
.250
FT%
.556
.786
RB
39
37
TO
32
12
STL
4
16
Game Leaders
Pts
19
FGM
9
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
15
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
2
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
7
FGM
2
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG/F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballLehigh Sports Central: Women's Basketball
Wednesday, November 19
Season Preview - Women's Basketball
Friday, October 31
Chasing Greatness: The Road to the Patriot League Title - Part 2
Thursday, May 15
Chasing Greatness: The Road to the Patriot League Title - Part 1
Wednesday, May 14
