Wednesday, February 16
Lewisburg, Pa.
6 p.m.
Lehigh University
17-7,9-4Patriot
54
at
56
Bucknell
18-7,9-5Patriot
1
2
3
4
F
Lehigh
15
19
5
15
54
Bucknell
10
13
18
15
56
Photo by: Josh Liddick
After double-digit first-half deficit, Bucknell rallies to sneak past Lehigh
2/16/2022 11:20:00 PM | Women's Basketball
LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Lehigh women's basketball team had its four-game win streak snapped by Bucknell Wednesday evening at Sojka Pavilion, falling by two late in the fourth quarter, 56-54. Sophomore guard Mackenzie Kramer led the way with 27 points, five 3-pointers and nine field goals, while senior forward Emma Grothaus recorded her third straight double-double (seventh this season) with 18 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks.
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The Mountain Hawks (17-7, 9-4 PL) led by as many as 13 points at the end of the first half, but were out-scored in the third quarter, 18-5 as the Bison held on for the two-point victory.
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Lehigh shot 36.2 percent (21-for-58) from the field, shooting 32.0 percent (8-for-25) from beyond-the-arc, but only 57.1 percent (4-for-7) from the free throw line. The defense held Bucknell to 37.3 percent (22-for-59) from the floor and 7.1 percent (1-for-14) from long range.
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"The difference between the first and second half ended up being that Megan Walker hurt her knee at the end of the first half and we kept her out of the lineup to begin the second," said head coach Sue Troyan. "We didn't have a good second half honestly, we turned the ball over five of our first seven possessions and maybe nine of our first 10 in that quarter. The game probably got away from us at that point.
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"I thought our kids competed hard and give Bucknell credit. They played pretty solid defense and made big shots when they needed to."
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The first quarter started with a 5-2 run for the Mountain Hawks following Kramer's first 3-pointer of the night. The Bison cut the deficit to one point heading into the media timeout with 4:51 to go. Grothaus got Lehigh back up by three with 4:06 to go, while Bucknell re-took the lead at the 3:16 mark following a Carly Krsul layup off a Lehigh turnover and back-to-back 3-pointers from Grothaus and first year Meghan O'Brien ballooned the Lehigh lead back to five points with 1:18 on the clock. The Mountain Hawks headed in the second quarter with a 15-10 lead.
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A 7-6 Lehigh run to open the second quarter pushed the advantage back out to six points, 22-16 with 6:36 to play and coming out of the media timeout with just 3:55 to go, the Mountain Hawks scored eight straight points to take a 32-19, eventually hanging on for an 11-point cushion at 34-23 after the first 20 minutes of action.
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Lehigh shot efficiently in the second quarter at 50 percent (8-for-16) from the field including 42.9 percent (3-for-7) from beyond-the-arc. Out-scoring Bucknell 19-13 in the period, Lehigh held the Bison to just 25.0 percent (5-for-20) shooting and without a 3-point field goal on four attempts.
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"I thought we executed the first half really well and defending really solidly," said Troyan. "We honestly defended well all throughout the game. They're a good offensive team and I thought we did a good job defending the 3 and some really good contributions from a number of different people. We controlled the boards and the second half was definitely the difference in terms of taking care of the basketball. 20 turnovers against a good team isn't going to amount to much in the end."
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Bucknell controlled possession in the third quarter from the get-go, scoring the first two baskets via Taylor O'Brien, going on a 12-2 run over the next five minutes to cut the Lehigh lead to two points, 37-35. After Grothaus extended the Mountain Hawks' lead back to four with 3:15 to go, Krsul tied up the game with 2:00 to play, 39-39, eventually pulling ahead by one possession with O'Brien's 20th point of the contest, leading 41-39 heading into the final stanza.
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Lehigh and Bucknell traded shots early in the fourth quarter with the latter taking a three-point lead with 5:36 to play following another field goal for O'Brien, who had 27 points for the game to that point. Kramer tied the game back up at 48-48 with 5:26 to play on a 3-pointer before Tai Johnson answered back with a 3 of her own with 5:07 to go, giving the Bison back a 51-48 advantage.
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The Bison tried to control the ball late, eventually taking a four-point lead with under two to go and forcing the Mountain Hawks to make a crucial stop down the stretch. Johnson's two missed free throws with 44 seconds left led to Kramer's clutch driving layup, a second chance bucket to cut the Bison lead to 56-54 with 39 seconds to go. O'Brien missed a floating jumper attempt with nine seconds left, as Lehigh called a timeout to get one last chance to either win the game or send the contest to overtime for the first time this season. With just 1.5 seconds left on the clock following another Lehigh timeout to avoid the turnover, Kramer put up a last-second heave a second too late as time expired and Bucknell prevailed for the victory.
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The loss marked Lehigh's 10th straight to Bucknell in the regular season and ninth straight at Sojka Pavilion during the regular campaign dating back to Jan. 29, 2014. The defeat also puts the Mountain Hawks back into a tie for third position with American in the Patriot League standings, a half game behind second-place Holy Cross and one and a half games behind first-place Boston University.
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Kramer (27 points) and Grothaus (18) ended up combining for 45 of the Mountain Hawks' 54 points on the night, while senior guard Megan Walker added four with two steals after fouling out of the contest, playing only a total of 18 minutes. Junior guard Anna Harvey finished with a team-high four assists, senior guard Clair Steele finished with three, while Grothaus (3) and O'Brien (2) combined for five of Lehigh's six blocks.
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Bucknell finished with the edge in points from turnovers (15-7), points in the paint (38-24), points off fast breaks (8-7) and bench points (19-2). Second-chance points were tied, 8-8 while Lehigh out-rebounded Bucknell, 41-34.
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The difference in the game was the turnover battle, as Lehigh led the way with 20 to Bucknell's seven.
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Up next, Lehigh returns to Stabler Arena on Saturday to host Loyola (Md.) for Play4Kay. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. and will be streamed live on Service Electric Network and ESPN+ (subscription required) with Mike Zambelli (PxP) and Tracy Cyr (Analyst) on the call. Tickets can be purchased by visiting LehighTickets.com or by calling 610-7LU-GAME.
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Like Lehigh Women's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
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The Mountain Hawks (17-7, 9-4 PL) led by as many as 13 points at the end of the first half, but were out-scored in the third quarter, 18-5 as the Bison held on for the two-point victory.
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Lehigh shot 36.2 percent (21-for-58) from the field, shooting 32.0 percent (8-for-25) from beyond-the-arc, but only 57.1 percent (4-for-7) from the free throw line. The defense held Bucknell to 37.3 percent (22-for-59) from the floor and 7.1 percent (1-for-14) from long range.
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"The difference between the first and second half ended up being that Megan Walker hurt her knee at the end of the first half and we kept her out of the lineup to begin the second," said head coach Sue Troyan. "We didn't have a good second half honestly, we turned the ball over five of our first seven possessions and maybe nine of our first 10 in that quarter. The game probably got away from us at that point.
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"I thought our kids competed hard and give Bucknell credit. They played pretty solid defense and made big shots when they needed to."
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The first quarter started with a 5-2 run for the Mountain Hawks following Kramer's first 3-pointer of the night. The Bison cut the deficit to one point heading into the media timeout with 4:51 to go. Grothaus got Lehigh back up by three with 4:06 to go, while Bucknell re-took the lead at the 3:16 mark following a Carly Krsul layup off a Lehigh turnover and back-to-back 3-pointers from Grothaus and first year Meghan O'Brien ballooned the Lehigh lead back to five points with 1:18 on the clock. The Mountain Hawks headed in the second quarter with a 15-10 lead.
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A 7-6 Lehigh run to open the second quarter pushed the advantage back out to six points, 22-16 with 6:36 to play and coming out of the media timeout with just 3:55 to go, the Mountain Hawks scored eight straight points to take a 32-19, eventually hanging on for an 11-point cushion at 34-23 after the first 20 minutes of action.
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Lehigh shot efficiently in the second quarter at 50 percent (8-for-16) from the field including 42.9 percent (3-for-7) from beyond-the-arc. Out-scoring Bucknell 19-13 in the period, Lehigh held the Bison to just 25.0 percent (5-for-20) shooting and without a 3-point field goal on four attempts.
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"I thought we executed the first half really well and defending really solidly," said Troyan. "We honestly defended well all throughout the game. They're a good offensive team and I thought we did a good job defending the 3 and some really good contributions from a number of different people. We controlled the boards and the second half was definitely the difference in terms of taking care of the basketball. 20 turnovers against a good team isn't going to amount to much in the end."
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Bucknell controlled possession in the third quarter from the get-go, scoring the first two baskets via Taylor O'Brien, going on a 12-2 run over the next five minutes to cut the Lehigh lead to two points, 37-35. After Grothaus extended the Mountain Hawks' lead back to four with 3:15 to go, Krsul tied up the game with 2:00 to play, 39-39, eventually pulling ahead by one possession with O'Brien's 20th point of the contest, leading 41-39 heading into the final stanza.
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Lehigh and Bucknell traded shots early in the fourth quarter with the latter taking a three-point lead with 5:36 to play following another field goal for O'Brien, who had 27 points for the game to that point. Kramer tied the game back up at 48-48 with 5:26 to play on a 3-pointer before Tai Johnson answered back with a 3 of her own with 5:07 to go, giving the Bison back a 51-48 advantage.
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The Bison tried to control the ball late, eventually taking a four-point lead with under two to go and forcing the Mountain Hawks to make a crucial stop down the stretch. Johnson's two missed free throws with 44 seconds left led to Kramer's clutch driving layup, a second chance bucket to cut the Bison lead to 56-54 with 39 seconds to go. O'Brien missed a floating jumper attempt with nine seconds left, as Lehigh called a timeout to get one last chance to either win the game or send the contest to overtime for the first time this season. With just 1.5 seconds left on the clock following another Lehigh timeout to avoid the turnover, Kramer put up a last-second heave a second too late as time expired and Bucknell prevailed for the victory.
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The loss marked Lehigh's 10th straight to Bucknell in the regular season and ninth straight at Sojka Pavilion during the regular campaign dating back to Jan. 29, 2014. The defeat also puts the Mountain Hawks back into a tie for third position with American in the Patriot League standings, a half game behind second-place Holy Cross and one and a half games behind first-place Boston University.
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Kramer (27 points) and Grothaus (18) ended up combining for 45 of the Mountain Hawks' 54 points on the night, while senior guard Megan Walker added four with two steals after fouling out of the contest, playing only a total of 18 minutes. Junior guard Anna Harvey finished with a team-high four assists, senior guard Clair Steele finished with three, while Grothaus (3) and O'Brien (2) combined for five of Lehigh's six blocks.
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Bucknell finished with the edge in points from turnovers (15-7), points in the paint (38-24), points off fast breaks (8-7) and bench points (19-2). Second-chance points were tied, 8-8 while Lehigh out-rebounded Bucknell, 41-34.
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The difference in the game was the turnover battle, as Lehigh led the way with 20 to Bucknell's seven.
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Up next, Lehigh returns to Stabler Arena on Saturday to host Loyola (Md.) for Play4Kay. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. and will be streamed live on Service Electric Network and ESPN+ (subscription required) with Mike Zambelli (PxP) and Tracy Cyr (Analyst) on the call. Tickets can be purchased by visiting LehighTickets.com or by calling 610-7LU-GAME.
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Like Lehigh Women's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
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Team Stats
Lehigh
Buck
FG%
.362
.373
3FG%
.320
.071
FT%
.571
.733
RB
41
34
TO
20
7
STL
4
13
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
27
FGM
9
3FGM
5
FTM
4
Pts
18
FGM
8
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
4
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
3
FGM
1
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
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