Saturday, February 12
Easton, Pa.
2 p.m.
Lehigh University
17-6,9-3Patriot
76
at
52
Lafayette
8-15,4-9Patriot
1
2
3
4
F
Lehigh
17
17
22
20
76
Lafayette
13
9
17
13
52
Photo by: Josh Liddick
Lehigh edges Lafayette, 76-52 behind herculean efforts from Kramer, Grothaus
2/12/2022 6:42:00 PM | Women's Basketball
EASTON, Pa. – There never really was a shadow of a doubt. Leading by as many as 27 points in the fourth quarter, the Lehigh women's basketball team used a couple of herculean performances from sophomore guard Mackenzie Kramer and senior forward Emma Grothaus to clip Lafayette, 76-52 Saturday afternoon at Kirby Sports Center in 102nd iteration of The Rivalry. The win marks the Mountain Hawks' (17-6, 9-3 PL) fourth straight victory, defeating the Leopards (8-15, 4-9 PL) for the 13th time in the last 15 meetings.
Kramer led the way with 29 points on six 3-pointers while Grothaus tallied her second straight double-double and sixth this season with 15 points and a team-high 13 rebounds. Senior guard Megan Walker was the third Mountain Hawk to register double-figures with 12 points and six rebounds, also recording a team-high four steals. Lehigh shot the lights out, going for 50 percent (30-for-60) from the field with nine treys.
"Lafayette is always a big game for us and to have a decisive win on the road is a big one for us," said head coach Sue Troyan. "Last year, we dropped one of our games to them. This year, I was proud of our kids and how they stepped up in a Rivalry game and I thought we put an exclamation point on the game in the fourth quarter, which is really challenging to do. We had really good play all around today and got great contributions from our starters."
Kramer and Grothaus were also centerpieces of milestones that were met on Saturday afternoon as Kramer's six triples led to 100 for her career, becoming just the 12th player in program history to tally the amount. Coming into the game, Grothaus was just one rebound shy of 600 and with 13, sits at 612 for her career, which is good for 14th all-time.
"They're (Kramer and Grothaus) are obviously staples to what we do," Troyan said. "But the great thing about this team is that we're at our best when we have a lot of different people contributing. Today was certainly Kenzie's day, she was feeling it from the floor. The big thing about her game today is that she didn't force anything. She let the game come to her, didn't force bad shots and our point guards did a great job of finding her.
"And Emma has just been so solid for four years in our program and I'm proud of her. She's a really humble kid too and I'm happy that she's been acknowledged for some of the cool things that she's doing."
Lafayette scored first and opened the contest with a 4-2 lead with 7:40 to go in the first quarter. The Mountain Hawks got their lead back out to three points with a 9-6 advantage heading into the media timeout with 5:00 to go in the first frame. Coming out of the break, junior wing Frannie Hottinger recorded her first points since returning from injury with a layup to extend the Lehigh lead to 11-6. Lafayette battled to cut the gap to as little as two points, but a Hottinger layup in the closing seconds of the quarter had Lehigh ahead with a 17-13 lead after 10 minutes.
It was a strong start to the second quarter for the Mountain Hawks, who went on a 10-2 run to take a 10-point, 27-17 lead with 5:43 to play, as the horn blew for the 5:00 media timeout. Walker's driving layup with 2:26 left increased the lead to 31-20 while Kramer drilled a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from the corner to hand Lehigh a 34-22 halftime lead.
Kramer finished with 13 first half points on a trio of triples, while the Mountain Hawks shot 41.9 percent (13-for-31) as a team through the first 20 minutes with four 3-pointers.
The Leopards scored five straight points to open the third quarter, cutting the Lehigh lead back to seven with 8:01 to go. Back-to-back two-point buckets from Kramer extended the lead back to 11 and following a Lafayette layup, a 3-pointer from Kramer gave the Mountain Hawks a 12-point cushion with 6:16 left. First year Claire Gallagher brought the Leopards back within eight with 4:55 to play, but five straight points courtesy of Hottinger and another 3-pointer from Kramer forced Lafayette to call timeout at 4:01, trailing by 13, 47-34.
Lehigh ended the third quarter on a 9-3 run, leading by 17 points heading into the final 10 minutes of action. Kramer scored 11 of her 29 total points in the third quarter, going 80 percent (4-for-5) from the field with two 3's. She was a team-best +10 on the floor for the stanza.
Despite Lafayette able to get back within 13 points with 6:25 to play, Lehigh saw its lead increase to 20 points with 5:04 left in regulation. The Mountain Hawks ended play on an 11-7 run, leading by as many as 27 points with 1:20 and 56 seconds left following a three-point play attempt from Jackie Vargas-Bines, also sinking a layup to push the lead out to 76-49. Gallagher sunk a trey to cut the gap back to 24, but Lehigh held on for the 76-52 victory.
Lafayette did end up out-rebounding Lehigh, 46-41 in the contest but the Mountain Hawks held the edge in three main categories including points in the paint (38-32), points off fast breaks (11-2) and points from turnovers (10-6). Lehigh and Lafayette each had 11 turnovers, while the Mountain Hawks had nine steals.
Grothaus finished a +29 for Lehigh, while Kramer was a +21 and Steele (+19), first year Meghan O'Brien (+15) and Walker (+14) rounded out the rest of the starting lineup.
Naomi Ganpo registered a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double for the Leopards, while Abby Antognoli added 13 points with six boards and four assists. Lehigh's defense held Makayla Andrews (0-for-12 from the field) and Makalia Wilson (1-for-8) to a combined 1-for-20 from the floor overall.
The Mountain Hawks continue the road trip to face another tough test in Bucknell Wednesday evening in Lewisburg, tipping off at 6 p.m. from Sojka Pavilion. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ (subscription required) and aired live on Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM in Easton with Steve Lomangino 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: (2-12-2022) WBB at Lafayette, 2/12/22
Kramer led the way with 29 points on six 3-pointers while Grothaus tallied her second straight double-double and sixth this season with 15 points and a team-high 13 rebounds. Senior guard Megan Walker was the third Mountain Hawk to register double-figures with 12 points and six rebounds, also recording a team-high four steals. Lehigh shot the lights out, going for 50 percent (30-for-60) from the field with nine treys.
"Lafayette is always a big game for us and to have a decisive win on the road is a big one for us," said head coach Sue Troyan. "Last year, we dropped one of our games to them. This year, I was proud of our kids and how they stepped up in a Rivalry game and I thought we put an exclamation point on the game in the fourth quarter, which is really challenging to do. We had really good play all around today and got great contributions from our starters."
Kramer and Grothaus were also centerpieces of milestones that were met on Saturday afternoon as Kramer's six triples led to 100 for her career, becoming just the 12th player in program history to tally the amount. Coming into the game, Grothaus was just one rebound shy of 600 and with 13, sits at 612 for her career, which is good for 14th all-time.
"They're (Kramer and Grothaus) are obviously staples to what we do," Troyan said. "But the great thing about this team is that we're at our best when we have a lot of different people contributing. Today was certainly Kenzie's day, she was feeling it from the floor. The big thing about her game today is that she didn't force anything. She let the game come to her, didn't force bad shots and our point guards did a great job of finding her.
"And Emma has just been so solid for four years in our program and I'm proud of her. She's a really humble kid too and I'm happy that she's been acknowledged for some of the cool things that she's doing."
Lehigh's defense came to play against the Leopards, holding them to just 28.8 percent (21-for-73) from the field and 21.4 percent (3-for-14) from beyond-the-arc.🏀 Mackenzie Kramer hit six 3s to lead @LehighWBB over Lafayette on Saturday.@MarchMadnessWBB | @espnW pic.twitter.com/S3QA9KrpfY
— Patriot League on ESPN (@PatriotLeagueTV) February 12, 2022
Lafayette scored first and opened the contest with a 4-2 lead with 7:40 to go in the first quarter. The Mountain Hawks got their lead back out to three points with a 9-6 advantage heading into the media timeout with 5:00 to go in the first frame. Coming out of the break, junior wing Frannie Hottinger recorded her first points since returning from injury with a layup to extend the Lehigh lead to 11-6. Lafayette battled to cut the gap to as little as two points, but a Hottinger layup in the closing seconds of the quarter had Lehigh ahead with a 17-13 lead after 10 minutes.
It was a strong start to the second quarter for the Mountain Hawks, who went on a 10-2 run to take a 10-point, 27-17 lead with 5:43 to play, as the horn blew for the 5:00 media timeout. Walker's driving layup with 2:26 left increased the lead to 31-20 while Kramer drilled a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from the corner to hand Lehigh a 34-22 halftime lead.
Kramer finished with 13 first half points on a trio of triples, while the Mountain Hawks shot 41.9 percent (13-for-31) as a team through the first 20 minutes with four 3-pointers.
The Leopards scored five straight points to open the third quarter, cutting the Lehigh lead back to seven with 8:01 to go. Back-to-back two-point buckets from Kramer extended the lead back to 11 and following a Lafayette layup, a 3-pointer from Kramer gave the Mountain Hawks a 12-point cushion with 6:16 left. First year Claire Gallagher brought the Leopards back within eight with 4:55 to play, but five straight points courtesy of Hottinger and another 3-pointer from Kramer forced Lafayette to call timeout at 4:01, trailing by 13, 47-34.
Lehigh ended the third quarter on a 9-3 run, leading by 17 points heading into the final 10 minutes of action. Kramer scored 11 of her 29 total points in the third quarter, going 80 percent (4-for-5) from the field with two 3's. She was a team-best +10 on the floor for the stanza.
Despite Lafayette able to get back within 13 points with 6:25 to play, Lehigh saw its lead increase to 20 points with 5:04 left in regulation. The Mountain Hawks ended play on an 11-7 run, leading by as many as 27 points with 1:20 and 56 seconds left following a three-point play attempt from Jackie Vargas-Bines, also sinking a layup to push the lead out to 76-49. Gallagher sunk a trey to cut the gap back to 24, but Lehigh held on for the 76-52 victory.
Lafayette did end up out-rebounding Lehigh, 46-41 in the contest but the Mountain Hawks held the edge in three main categories including points in the paint (38-32), points off fast breaks (11-2) and points from turnovers (10-6). Lehigh and Lafayette each had 11 turnovers, while the Mountain Hawks had nine steals.
Grothaus finished a +29 for Lehigh, while Kramer was a +21 and Steele (+19), first year Meghan O'Brien (+15) and Walker (+14) rounded out the rest of the starting lineup.
Naomi Ganpo registered a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double for the Leopards, while Abby Antognoli added 13 points with six boards and four assists. Lehigh's defense held Makayla Andrews (0-for-12 from the field) and Makalia Wilson (1-for-8) to a combined 1-for-20 from the floor overall.
The Mountain Hawks continue the road trip to face another tough test in Bucknell Wednesday evening in Lewisburg, tipping off at 6 p.m. from Sojka Pavilion. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ (subscription required) and aired live on Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM in Easton with Steve Lomangino 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
Laf
FG%
.500
.288
3FG%
.321
.214
FT%
.538
.700
RB
41
46
TO
11
11
STL
9
3
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
29
FGM
11
3FGM
6
FTM
1
Pts
15
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's Basketball
G/F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
F/C
/ Women's BasketballG
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