Lehigh Uses Total Team Effort to Defeat Lafayette 79-48

Saturday, February 4

Bethlehem, Pa.

4:00 PM

Lehigh University

11-11,7-4Patriot

Lafayette

8-13,5-6Patriot

Lafayette

Lehigh

Photo by: Alicia Zamudio

Lehigh Uses Total Team Effort to Defeat Lafayette 79-48

2/4/2023 7:40:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lehigh women's basketball team stormed to a 79-48 victory over Lafayette Saturday night at Stabler Arena. The game was presented by Lehigh Valley Orthopedic Institute and was also Lehigh's National Girls and Women in Sports Day.

'The environment was great," said senior Frannie Hottinger. "We had so many fans here and so many different young girls watching us play, and I think we really emphasized some things like rebounding and transition defense that helped us be successful."

The Mountain Hawks got back to .500 overall (11-11) and improved to 7-4 in Patriot League play, while Lafayette dropped to 8-13 (5-6 PL). The Leopards were on a four-game winning streak coming into Saturday's game.

"I think it was huge,"Hottinger said. "When we were at Lafayette, we definitely struggled, so it was good to see the strides we made just in a couple of weeks."

Hottinger kicked off the scoring 22 seconds into the game, and the Mountain Hawks controlled the game from there. They started the game on a 7-0 run. Lehigh was 6-of-9 from three in the first quarter, and held a 29-19 lead after the first quarter.

Hottinger had a team-high of 28 points while grabbing four rebounds, dishing out two assists and tallying two blocks. Mackenzkie Kramer scored 15 points and also grabbed four rebounds.

Lafayette had a 12-9 advantage in the second quarter, but that would be the only quarter that the Leopards would end up winning.

"I want to credit Lafayette," said head coach Addie Micir. "In that second quarter, they made a run against us like they did in the first game, but I"m really proud of the way our entire team responded on both ends."

The Mountain Hawks still led 38-24 at the half.

Lehigh didn't let the foot off the gas in the third quarter. The Mountain Hawks held Lafayette to just 11 points, which was the fewest amount of points they scored in one quarter today. Lehigh had a 12-0 scoring run in the third quarter to take a 61-35 lead heading into the final frame.

In the fourth quarter, Lehigh still dominated. Behar made a layup with 4:59 left in the game to give Lehigh a 31 point lead which would be the biggest lead of the game. Lehigh ended up winning by 31 points thanks to a Fabienne Eggnschwiler layup with 12 seconds left in the game.

Lehigh had nine different scorers on Saturday and had 20 assists on 28 baskets.

"Twenty assists on 28 baskets and only 15 turnovers," Micir said. "That's exactly the type of basketball that we want .The percentage goes up when you take good open looks, and that's what we did. It was a number of people knocking them down and really a total team victory. "

Lehigh held a 45-26 advantage on the glass, with Behar recording a team-high of 10 rebounds. She also scored seven points.

"When our team rebounds, it takes a little pressure off of Frannie to have to do it all the time, so I'm really pumped to see that almost everybody who played got a board," Micir said. "That's what we wanted. That's what we needed."

Lafayette was led by Halee Smith, who scored 18 points.

The Mountain Hawks shot 46.7% from the field on Saturday, and Lafayette was 36.4% from the field.

The Mountain Hawks will host Colgate at Stabler on Wednesday in its Pride Night, presented by the Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Equity.

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