Bucknell University
8-0,8-0Patriot
Lehigh
6-4,6-4Patriot
Bucknell Women's Basketball Off to Program-Record 8-0 Start After 73-68 Comeback Win Over Lehigh
1/31/2021 4:22:00 PM | Women's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Bucknell women's basketball team outscored the Lehigh Mountain Hawks 27-9 in the fourth quarter to overcome an 18-point third-quarter deficit and win 73-68 at Stabler Arena on Sunday afternoon. Four Bison scored in double figures, including a team-high 20 points for Abby Kapp and a double-double (19 points, 10 rebounds) for Tessa Brugler. With the comeback victory, the Bison moved to 8-0 on the season for the first time in program history.
Bucknell (8-0, 6-0 PL Central) trailed 59-41 with 1:22 left in the third quarter before finishing out the game on a 32-9 run. The Bison limited Lehigh (6-4, 2-4 PL Central) to just 17.6 percent (3-of-17) in the fourth while shooting 50 percent (6-of-12) themselves. A Kapp 3-pointer with 1:07 left in the game tied it up at 63-all before a Brugler fadeaway jumper with 16 seconds remaining gave the Bison their first lead since the opening minutes of the game.
The Mountain Hawks were led by a 24-point effort from Frannie Hottinger. For Bucknell, Taylor O'Brien (11) and Ally Johnson (10) joined Kapp and Brugler in double figure scoring. Bucknell sank 22 of its 24 attempts from the foul line, including a perfect 13-for-13 in the final frame.
The Bison shot 41.1 percent (23-of-56) from the field for the game and dished out 14 assists. They outscored Lehigh 32-30 in the paint, while the Mountain Hawks held a 43-32 advantage on the boards. It was Bucknell's fourth consecutive win over the Mountain Hawks this season and the Bison's ninth consecutive win in the series.
"If you can win against a quality opponent while playing poorly, it shows you something about the character of the individuals," said head coach Trevor Woodruff. "I'm really proud of them. I'm excited about what it means for our future, because now we know we can play in a lot of different types of games and come back from deficits."
The Bison were on the board first in the game, but they'd lose the lead just 1:34 into the first quarter as the Mountain Hawks managed to build an 18-13 lead going into the second. Lehigh added to its lead by outscoring Bucknell 19-13 in the second quarter and carried a 37-26 edge into the halftime break. Bucknell shot just 33.3 percent (10-of-30) in the first half and went 1-for-9 on attempts beyond the arc.
While the Bison offense improved during the third quarter, the defense allowed Lehigh to score 22 points on 57.1 percent (8-of-14) shooting. Trailing 41-31 with eight minutes left in the third, the Mountain Hawks went on an 8-0 scoring run that lasted nearly two minutes and pushed the deficit to 18. Then, a Johnson 3-pointer with 1:22 left in the third kicked off a 9-0 Bison run that carried over into the final stanza.
Lehigh kept Bucknell at a double-digit distance through the first half of the fourth quarter until another Johnson triple with 4:34 to go sparked a 15-0 Bison run that overtook the lead for good.
"I thought in the fourth quarter they had some looks. They just missed shots that they had been making the whole game, and conversely we started making shots that we hadn't made the whole game."
Brugler ended up with a steal, a block and an assist to go with her double-double. The senior captain made 9-of-9 from the charity stripe in the final 10 minutes. Kapp's 20 points came on 7-of-12 shooting with three 3-pointers and three steals.
Other notable performances included nine points on 4-of-5 shooting and eight boards for Autumn Ceppi, and a career-high four assists from Tai Johnson.
Bucknell returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 6 when it hosts Loyola (Md.) at Sojka Pavilion at 2 p.m.
