Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Lehigh
Bucknell Women's Basketball Ends Season with 63-47 Loss at No. 2 Lehigh
3/1/2012 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 1, 2012
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Shelby Romine (Centreville, Va./Westfield) scored a game-high 16 points, but Lehigh shot .500 from the field to end the 2011-12 season for Bucknell women's basketball's season with a 63-47 loss at Stabler Arena. The seventh-seeded Bison were unable to upset No. 2 Lehigh in the Patriot League Tournament Quarterfinals and completed the campaign at 5-25 overall.
Bucknell got off to a strong start much the same way it did the last time it played Lehigh at Stabler Arena. A swarming defense kept the Mountain Hawks from making progress in the paint and forced them into a handful of turnovers. By the first media timeout, the Bison had three steals and a 9-4 lead.
At 11:03, Bucknell's advantage was 12-9 and it was shooting .417 (5-12) from the floor. At the same time Lehigh was .200 (2-10) from the floor but had done much of its damage from the free throw line it was 9-for-10 in the first half. The Bison, however, were just 0-for-2 with both of those attempts coming with just 3:41 to play until the break.
Free throw shooting never really picked up. At the game's final buzzer, Bucknell was still 0-for-2 and Lehigh was at 11-for-12.
Lehigh's 26-18 lead at halftime came courtesy of both better shooting at their own end of the court and a rebounding effort that put them up 22-8 on the glass. The Mountain Hawks, which totaled 15 defensive boards through the first half of play, also improved its shooting to .400 (8-for-20), while the Bison's dipped to .320 (8-for-25).
Bucknell went scoreless over the last 7:07. The drought took them from a 16-13 lead at 8:26 to their eight-point halftime deficit after Lehigh rattled off 11 unanswered points.
Romine led all players with eight points at the break but had to sit for much of the first half after picking up two fouls. She was not the only Bison struggling with foul trouble as Rachel Voss (Cincinnati, Ohio/Loveland) also picked up her second less than three minutes into play and did not return until after halftime.
The Bison offense did not right itself immediately after halftime. By the time Romine and Katherine Harris (Derry, N.H./Pinkerton Academy) hit back-to-back threes, the Mountain Hawks had earned a 27-4 run going back to the 8:09 mark in the first half and a 38-22 lead.
Bucknell's defense was simply not enough to hold Lehigh down through the second half. Paired with its sluggish offense, the Bison did not have all the pieces for a comeback. The Mountain Hawks were .567 (17-30) from the floor in the second, while the Bison were .462 (12-26).
Romine's scoring came on 6-for-12 shooting from the floor, including 4-for-5 from behind the 3-point arc. After going scoreless in the first half, Voss tallied seven points in the second. Lindsay Horbatuck (Avon, Conn./Avon) led all players with seven rebounds, although Bucknell lost the battle of the boards 35-22 as a team. In her final game with the Bison, Christina Chukwuedo (Monessen, Pa./Monessen) tallied two assists. Romine led the Bison with four assists.
Lehigh put three players in double figures, led by Kelly Peterson with 13. Emily Gratch also had 12 points, and Alexa Williams had 10. Marybeth Egan totaled 10 assists.
Lehigh now advances to the Patriot League Tournament Semifinals to face the winner of Navy-Colgate.
