Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
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Bucknell Drops 67-55 Decision to Lehigh in Women's Basketball
2/6/2005 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 6, 2005
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Hope Foster scored a career-high 14 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, but Bucknell fell to second-place Lehigh 67-55 Sunday afternoon at Sojka Pavilion. Foster, who leads the Patriot League in blocks, also equaled her career high with six rejections.
Mary Hynoski led Lehigh (15-7 overall, 7-2 Patriot League) with her fifth double-double of the season by scoring a game- and career-high 20 points and grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds. The Bison fell to 7-15 overall, 1-8 in the Patriot League.
Bucknell hung close with the second-place Mountain Hawks, who defeated the Bison 52-44 two weeks ago in Easton, Pa. After Lehigh held Bucknell without a field goal for nearly five minutes to build a 23-12 lead midway through the first half, the Bison responded with a 9-3 run keyed by four straight points from Foster, and capped by a 3-pointer from Lindsey Hollobaugh who tied Foster for team-high honors with 14 points. That made the score 26-21 with just over four minutes to play in the first half. The Mountain Hawks held onto their lead and went into halftime with a 29-23 advantage.
Bucknell opened the second half by making six of its first nine shots and narrowed the gap to just one point on two occasions. However, the Bison were never able to take the lead. Bucknell narrowed the score to 34-33 on a baseline jumper from Foster, but on the ensuing possession Jenny Callan scored connected on a jumper to give Lehigh a three-point lead. On its next possession, Bucknell received a pair of free throws to cut the lead to one point again. However, after a missed 3-pointer by Kaela Pearce went out of bounds, Sara Ellis connected on one of her two 3-pointers directly off the in-bounds pass from Chantal St. Laurent to extend the lead to 39-35.
With just under 14 minutes to play Bucknell did have the ball with the opportunity to tie on two occasions, but Lindsey Geosits and Kesha Champion missed 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions with the Bison trailing 40-37.
Bucknell was able to draw within three points on just one other occasion (42-39), but were within five points at 56-51 following a lay-up from Foster with 3:40 to play. The Bison would get just two more field goals the rest of the game as Lehigh held Bucknell without a field goal for nearly two minutes and scored four consecutive points. After taking a 60-51 lead with 2:43 on the clock, the Mountain Hawks sealed the game by making 7 of 8 free throws down the stretch. For the game, Lehigh was 22 of 26, including 8 of 9 by Hynoski. The Bison were limited to just five attempts and made four.
Brooke Tomovich joined Foster and Hollobaugh in double figures with 12 points. It was the seventh time in the last 11 games she netted at least 10 points. However, Tomovich grabbed just one rebound in 17 minutes of play. As a team, Bucknell hauled in just 29 boards compared to 42 for Lehigh. Eleven of those were on the offensive end for the Mountain Hawks.
For the fourth time in five games, and the 13th time this season, the Bucknell defense held its opponent under 40.0 percent shooting from the floor as Lehigh connected on just 38.2 percent (21 of 55) of its shots. The Bison made 40.0 percent (24 of 60), but managed just 2 of 7 shooting in the final three minutes.
Bucknell's defense was also tough on the Patriot League's leading scorer Jessica DePalo as she managed just 10 points, eight below her average. However, Ellis, who is third in the league in scoring and who tallied just five points when the two teams met two weeks ago, tallied 17.
Lindsey Geosits moved into seventh place on Bucknell's career assists list as she tallied eight to increase her career total to 272. With her six blocks, which equaled her career high and was one shy of tying a school record, Foster, who already stands second on the single-season list, moved into a tie with Kirsten Ellison for ninth place on Bucknell's career blocks list with 51.
The loss was the sixth in a row for Bucknell, including four in a row at home that followed a 10-game home winning streak. The Bison, who have never been 1-8 in Patriot League play before, last dropped six games in a row during the 1997-98 campaign.
The Bison will try to end their streak Friday night, Feb. 11, at American. The game is scheduled to tip-off at 7 p.m. at Bender Arena in Washington, D.C. Bucknell will then travel to Navy on Sunday, Feb. 13, for a 1 p.m. contest in Annapolis, Md.
