Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Army
Bucknell Women's Basketball Drops Regular-Season Finale, 49-37, to Army
2/28/2010 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 28, 2010
| Video Highlights
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell women's basketball put together an 8-0 run late in the game to come within three of Army, but an otherwise sluggish offense handed the Bison a 49-37 loss at Sojka Pavilion on Sunday. Cosima Higham (Brooklyn, N.Y./Poly Prep Country Day) scored a team-high 11 points, while the Black Knights' Erin Anthony posted her 13th double-double of the season with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
With the loss, Bucknell (7-20, 3-11) will be seeded eighth at the Patriot League Tournament, which begins next Saturday. The Bison will face No. 1 Lehigh. The win for Army (11-17, 5-9) gives the Black Knights the fourth seed and a meeting with No. 5 Holy Cross.
Despite having so much on the line for both teams in terms of seeding, neither squad was quick to get out of the gates offensively. Army held just a one-point lead at halftime, 20-19.
Although the scoring pace remained slow in the second half, the Black Knights pieced together a couple of well-timed runs to give themselves the breathing room they needed. Army reopened play after the break with a seven-point run to make the score 27-19. That advantage hovered around nine points for much of the next eight minutes.
After Army's Molly Yardley took her team's lead to 11 points, however, Bucknell finally earned a bit of a scoring spurt by running off eight straight points of its own. Higham's layup at 7:44 capped off the streak with the score at 36-33, and the Bison never got any closer.
Jessie Coiffard drilled her third 3-pointer of the half to regain control for Army at the 7:13 mark. As the Black Knights stayed steady from that point on, the Bison began to fall off the pace again. Army finished the game with 13 of the game's next 17 points, the only interruption from Bucknell coming on a pair of jumpers by Trisha Krewson (Sandusky, Ohio/Perkins).
Although Army led for much of the game, it took some time for the visiting team to pull in front. The Bison jumped ahead 4-0 on layups from Le' Le' LeSeur (Snellville, Ga./Wesleyan) and Higham. The Black Knights needed nearly six minutes to register their first field goal, however. Higham gave Bucknell its largest lead of the day at 9-4 with a pair of free throws, but Army responded with a 9-0 run and Bucknell went scoreless for six more minutes. Both teams traded baskets down the final stretch of the first half, but the Bison were never able to regain a lead.
Bucknell shot 14-for-43 (32.6 percent) from the field, while Army finished at 18-for-46 (39.1 percent). The Black Knight's percentage increased with their second-half performance, going 10-for-21 (47.6 percent).
By completing the regular season with 11 points, Higham has now posted double figures in each of her last five games, marking a career high. The forward also had six rebounds and two blocked shots to lead the team.
Anthony added three blocks and a steal to her double-double. Leading all scorers was Coiffard with 16 points, shooting 50-for-10 from the field, including 4-for-8 from 3-point distance. Army also outrebounded Bucknell, 35-25. It was just the sixth time this season the Bison had lost the battle of the boards.
Bucknell will return to the court on Saturday, March 6 for the quarterfinals of the Patriot League Tournament. The time of the matchup with Lehigh has yet to be determined.
