Friday, March 21
Durham, N.C.
8:00 PM
Lehigh University
at
Duke University
No. 15 Lehigh to Play at No. 2 Duke in NCAA Tournament First Round
3/20/2025 11:42:00 AM | Women's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh women's basketball is set to make its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance as the No. 15 Mountain Hawks face off against No. 2 Duke on Friday at 8 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium in the first round. The game will be televised on ESPNU, and tickets can be purchased [here].
Lehigh secured its fifth Patriot League Championship on March 16 with a 74-62 win over Army. Trailing 32-30 at halftime, the Mountain Hawks outscored Army 44-30 in the second half to clinch the victory. This marked the fourth time this season that Lehigh overcame a halftime deficit. The Mountain Hawks are 21-0 when leading at the half.
Lehigh shot a season-high 60% from the field, going 27-of-45, in a dominant second-half performance.
Patriot League Tournament MVP Maddie Albrecht recorded a double-double in the championship game, her third of the season, scoring 13 points while corralling 10 rebounds.
Albrecht was also one of five Mountain Hawks to finish in double figures. Senior guard Colleen McQuillen and junior forward Lily Fandre both scored 13 points. Senior guard Ella Stemmer added 12 points, while senior wing Remi Sisselman contributed 11 points, all of which came in the second half. Sisselman went a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and made a pivotal and-one that shifted the momentum of the game.
Albrecht, McQuillen, and Stemmer earned spots on the All-Tournament Team.
Albrecht will play in a program-record 136th career game on Friday, surpassing Kristen Dalton's 135 career games played. The Billings, Mont., native leads the team with 15.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Stemmer ranks second on the team in scoring, averaging 11.3 points, while Fandre rounds out the top three with 10.1 points per game.
Duke claimed the 2025 ACC Championship with a 76-62 victory over NC State on March 9. Oluchi Okananwa and Ashton Jackson both scored a game-high 22 points, helping Duke erase a 14-point deficit to secure the win.
Three Blue average double figures led by Toby Fournier, with 13.4 points per game, followed by Ashlon Jackson (12.4 points per game) and Okawanawa (10.2 points per game)
Friday's game marks Lehigh's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2021, when the No. 13 Mountain Hawks faced No. 4 West Virginia in San Antonio, Texas, and fell to the Mountaineers.
A win on Friday would not only give Lehigh its first-ever NCAA Tournament victory, but it would also make history as the first time a 15-seed has defeated a No. 2 seed in the tournament. Additionally, a victory would give Lehigh its second power conference win of the season, following its 85-68 triumph over Northwestern on Nov. 10.
While this is the first-ever meeting between the Lehigh women's team and Duke, the Mountain Hawks men's team upset the Blue Devils in the 2012 NCAA Tournament, advancing to the round of 32.
The winner of Friday's game will face the winner of No. 7 Vanderbilt and No. 10 Oregon in Sunday's second round.
Lehigh secured its fifth Patriot League Championship on March 16 with a 74-62 win over Army. Trailing 32-30 at halftime, the Mountain Hawks outscored Army 44-30 in the second half to clinch the victory. This marked the fourth time this season that Lehigh overcame a halftime deficit. The Mountain Hawks are 21-0 when leading at the half.
Lehigh shot a season-high 60% from the field, going 27-of-45, in a dominant second-half performance.
Patriot League Tournament MVP Maddie Albrecht recorded a double-double in the championship game, her third of the season, scoring 13 points while corralling 10 rebounds.
Albrecht was also one of five Mountain Hawks to finish in double figures. Senior guard Colleen McQuillen and junior forward Lily Fandre both scored 13 points. Senior guard Ella Stemmer added 12 points, while senior wing Remi Sisselman contributed 11 points, all of which came in the second half. Sisselman went a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and made a pivotal and-one that shifted the momentum of the game.
Albrecht, McQuillen, and Stemmer earned spots on the All-Tournament Team.
Albrecht will play in a program-record 136th career game on Friday, surpassing Kristen Dalton's 135 career games played. The Billings, Mont., native leads the team with 15.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Stemmer ranks second on the team in scoring, averaging 11.3 points, while Fandre rounds out the top three with 10.1 points per game.
Duke claimed the 2025 ACC Championship with a 76-62 victory over NC State on March 9. Oluchi Okananwa and Ashton Jackson both scored a game-high 22 points, helping Duke erase a 14-point deficit to secure the win.
Three Blue average double figures led by Toby Fournier, with 13.4 points per game, followed by Ashlon Jackson (12.4 points per game) and Okawanawa (10.2 points per game)
Friday's game marks Lehigh's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2021, when the No. 13 Mountain Hawks faced No. 4 West Virginia in San Antonio, Texas, and fell to the Mountaineers.
A win on Friday would not only give Lehigh its first-ever NCAA Tournament victory, but it would also make history as the first time a 15-seed has defeated a No. 2 seed in the tournament. Additionally, a victory would give Lehigh its second power conference win of the season, following its 85-68 triumph over Northwestern on Nov. 10.
While this is the first-ever meeting between the Lehigh women's team and Duke, the Mountain Hawks men's team upset the Blue Devils in the 2012 NCAA Tournament, advancing to the round of 32.
The winner of Friday's game will face the winner of No. 7 Vanderbilt and No. 10 Oregon in Sunday's second round.
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