Women's Basketball Hosts Lehigh Monday for Patriot League Quarterfinal Game

LEWISBURG, Pa. – It's tournament time in Lewisburg, and the fourth-seeded Bucknell women's basketball team is set to host a Patriot League quarterfinal game at Sojka Pavilion for a ninth straight season. The Bison are taking on their most familiar foe, Lehigh, in the 10^th meeting between the two teams in three seasons. Lehigh comes to Lewisburg as the #5 seed looking to upset Bucknell for a second straight year and to defend its 2021 title.

While the Bison are 11-1 over the Mountain Hawks in recent years, the battles have been fierce. Two of Bucknell's wins in the last two seasons required double-digit comebacks, and Lehigh's semifinal victory at Sojka last March put an end to an otherwise perfect season for the Bison.

Monday's game features four All-Patriot League players, two 1,000-point scorers, and the league's top offense against its top defense. It's a matchup between the Patriot League's two most recent champions.

At the helm of the Mountain Hawks is seasoned leader Sue Troyan, who has coached nearly 800 games over her 27 years in Bethlehem, and leading the Bison is Trevor Woodruff, who has taken the league by storm with a 36-8 conference record in his three seasons in Lewisburg. Both have earned Patriot League Coach of the Year recognition twice.

Following two seasons that were heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Bucknell enters the Patriot League Tournament with a league-best 21 regular season wins under its belt and a chance to make yet another run at the title after winning it in 2017 and 2019. With a win on Monday, Bucknell will even its all-time Patriot League Tournament record at 26-26 and head to the semifinals to face either #1 Holy Cross or #8 Navy.

• Game Notes
• 2021-22 Media Guide

What: #4 Bucknell (21-8, 12-6 PL) vs. #5 Lehigh (19-10, 11-7 PL)
When: Monday, March 7 at 6 p.m.
Where: Sojka Pavilion - Lewisburg, Pa.
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 90.5 WVBU
Live Statistics: BucknellBison.com

Last Game's Starters
Sr./G: Marly Walls (7.7 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.6 apg)
Sr./G: Taylor O'Brien (16.2 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 2.1 spg)
Fr./G: Cecelia Collins (11.2 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.7 apg)
Fr./F: Isabella King (4.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 0.4 spg)
Jr./F: Emma Shaffer (4.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 1.3 apg)

WBB Family 4-Pack

*All students receive free admission on Monday.
* First 200 students receive a free Orange Out shirt.
* Student Trivia for a prize of $1,000.
* Greek Life Challenge - Top fraternity & top sorority.

With a win over Lehigh, Bucknell would...
• ... advance to the PL semifinals to face the winner of #1 Holy Cross vs. #8 Navy.
• ... reach the PL semifinals for a seventh straight season.
• ... improve to 22-8 overall this season.
• ... improve to 3-1 in the Patriot League Tournament under Woodruff.
• ... improve to 26-26 all-time in the Patriot League Tournament.
• ... improve to 51-44 in the all-time series against the Mountain Hawks.
• ... collect a third straight victory over the Mountain Hawks.
• ... improve to 11-3 at Sojka Pavilion this season.

Headlines
• Bucknell begins the 2022 Patriot League Tournament on Monday with a game against fifth-seeded Lehigh at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison enter the tournament as the #4 seed after going 12-6 in Patriot League play.
• Lehigh is no stranger to Bucknell as Saturday will be the 10th meeting between the two squads in three seasons. The Bison have claimed 11 of the last 12 matchups, but it was Lehigh that put an end to Bucknell's season in the Patriot League semifinals a year ago. The Mountain Hawks went on to win the 2021 championship as the #4 seed.
• Monday's game features four 2022 All-Patriot League players in Taylor O'Brien (First Team), Cecelia Collins (Second Team), Mackenzie Kramer (Second Team), and Emma Grothaus (Second Team). Marly Walls was also named to the All-Defensive Team on Friday. The game will also see a pair of 1,000-point scorers go head to head, as O'Brien and Grothaus both hit the milestone this season.
• Bucknell finished the regular season with the most overall wins of any team in the league at 21-8. The Bison and the Mountain Hawks also finished non-league play with the highest and second-highest winning percentages, respectively.
• Monday's matchup pits the league's top offense against its best defense. Lehigh, which averages 69.6 points per game, is sixth in the nation in 3-pointers per game (9.5). Bucknell's scoring defense ranks 15th in the country with just 54.5 points allowed per contest.
• Bucknell is also committing a league-low 12 turnovers per game, which is 12th-best among NCAA Division I teams. The Bison posted just five turnovers in their most recent win.
• Bucknell has been dominant against league opponents for some time and has gone 100-16 in PL play since the start of the 2015-16 season. Under head coach Trevor Woodruff, Bucknell is 36-8 against league opponents during the regular season.
• Bucknell has seen some of its most successful seasons in program history over recent years, including five first-place regular season finishes and two Patriot League Championship titles in the last seven seasons.
• Woodruff is in his third season with the team, and he was named the Patriot League Coach of the Year in each of his first two. Bucknell has gone 54-15 overall under his direction.

Scouting Lehigh/Series History
• Lehigh, the defending Patriot League Tournament champion, enters the 2022 tournament as the #5 seed after going 19-10 in the regular season and 11-7 in league play. The Mountain Hawks ended the regular season with a 64-42 win at Navy. Three Mountain Hawks scored in double figures against Navy, and Lehigh held the Mids to just 22.5 percent shooting and 2-of-19 from beyond the arc.
• Lehigh finished the regular season atop the Patriot League in scoring offense (69.6 ppg) and sixth in scoring defense (60.3 ppg). The Mountain Hawks were also first in the league in 3-pointers made per game (9.5) and assists per game (15.5). Lehigh has attempted the second most threes in NCAA Division I (853).
• Lehigh leading scorer Mackenzie Kramer was named Second Team All-Patriot League on Friday after finishing tied for second in the league in points per game (16.2). Kramer ranks fifth in the nation with 3.28 3-pointers per game. Also making the Second Team was senior Emma Grothaus, who scored her 1,000th career point last game . She also has 666 rebounds in her career.
• Lehigh senior Clair Steele leads the country in assist/turnover ratio (4.19).
• Head coach Sue Troyan enters the tournament with a 430-360 career record with the Mountain Hawks. She's led Lehigh to four Patriot League Championship titles (1997, 2009, 2010, 2021).
• Bucknell holds a 50-44 all-time record against the Mountain Hawks and has won 11 of the last 12 meetings, including two victories this season. Lehigh interrupted the streak with a 63-54 win in last season's Patriot League semifinals.
• Bucknell held Lehigh to a season-low 45 points in the first meeting in Bethlehem this past February, including just 12 points in the first half. Lehigh went just 6-for-28 from the arc in that game. The Bison then had to come back from an 11-point halftime deficit in game two to win 56-54 in Lewisburg back on Feb. 16.
• Taylor O'Brien was outstanding in the two Lehigh games this season, totaling 46 points on 18-of-36 shooting, 27 rebounds, three assists and four steals.

Series Record: 50-44
Record at Home: 26-18
Record at Lehigh: 22-24
Neutral Site Record: 2-2
Trevor Woodruff Record: 8-1
Current Streak: 2 wins
Longest Winning Streak: 9
Longest Losing Streak: 9

Bucknell in the Patriot League Tournament
• The Bison are 25-26 all-time in the Patriot League Tournament, dating back to 1991, and they're 10-3 in the tournament since 2015.
• The Bison are 11-4 when playing tournament games at home. Bucknell has played its last 11 PLT games at Sojka Pavilion, last hitting the road in 2016.
• This is the seventh time Bucknell has been the #4 seed in the tournament, and it is 1-6 when playing in that position. The Bison last earned the #4 seed in 2015.
• Bucknell is 16-14 all-time in Patriot League quarterfinal games, winning each of the last six.
• Bucknell has won the Patriot League Championship four times, doing so as recently as 2019, and it has reached the title game five times since 1991.
• Bucknell and Lehigh are meeting in the Patriot League Tournament for a seventh time. Five of the previous six matchups were in the quarterfinal round, and this is just the second time Bucknell has hosted Lehigh in Lewisburg for the tournament.
• The Mountain Hawks are 5-1 against the Bison in the tournament and have won three straight. Bucknell's last win over Lehigh in the tournament was in 2006.

Bucknell vs. Opponents in PL Tournament
vs. American:    5-0 (1.000)
vs. Army:           5-1 (.833)
vs. Colgate:       2-4 (.333)
vs. Fordham:    0-2 (.000)
vs. Holy Cross: 5-6 (.455)
vs. Lafayette: 0-2 (.000)
vs. Lehigh:         1-5 (.167)
vs. Loyola         3-1 (.750)
vs. Navy:            4-5 (.444)

Last Time Out
• Five Bison scored in double figures, led by a career-high 16 points off the bench by Julie Kulesza, as the Bucknell closed out the regular season with a convincing 91-59 victory over Colgate Wednesday evening at Sojka.
• Isabella King equaled her career high with 15 points as she connected on all five of her 3-point attempts, while Taylor O'Brien and Cecelia Collins added 14 apiece. Remi Sisselman posted 10 points off the bench. Marly Walls had a strong all-around game in her final regular-season contest at Sojka Pavilion. One of two seniors along with O'Brien, Walls totaled four points, grabbed five rebounds, dished out a career high-tying eight assists and a recorded a career-high five steals.
• Bucknell connected on 13-of-18 from 3-point range, including a combined 9-for-10 performance by King and Kulesza. Sisselman was 3-for-4. The 13 threes are the most Bucknell has made since sinking 13 against Navy in February of 2019.
• The Bison forced 18 Colgate (6-23, 4-14 PL) turnovers and scored 26 points off those miscues. Meanwhile, Bucknell committed a season-low five turnovers while totaling 19 assists.

Patriot League Postseason Awards
• Bucknell had three players receive Patriot League postseason honors for a ninth consecutive season when the league announced awards on Friday. It's also the ninth straight season Bucknell has had a player named First Team All-League.
• Taylor O'Brien - First Team All-Patriot League
... Two-time First Team selection ...
• Cecelia Collins - Second Team All-Patriot League, All-Rookie Team
... First Bucknell freshman named to First, Second or Third Team since 2001 ... First All-Rookie since 2018 ...
• Marly Walls - All-Defensive Team
... Third All-Defensive Player in two years ...

Dominant Defense
• Since head coach Trevor Woodruff's arrival in 2019-20, the Bison have had one of the best scoring defenses in the country. Bucknell allowed just 53.6 points per game during Woodruff's first season, which ranked eighth in NCAA Division I. Last season the Bison allowed 55.5 per game and finished 17th in the country.
• Bucknell currently ranks 15th in the country and first in the Patriot League with 54.5 points allowed per game. The Bison have held opponents to 60 or fewer points in 22 of their 29 games, and 10 have been held to under 50.
• Bucknell has held teams to 20 or fewer first-half points nine times this season and 12 or fewer first-half points three times since the start of the 2019-20 season. Additionally, the Bison have held teams to single digits in 64 quarters over the past three seasons (excludes overtime periods).

Consistent Patriot League Success
• Bucknell is 100-16 in Patriot League play since the start of the 2015-16 season. The run includes two Patriot League Tournament titles and five first-place finishes in the regular season. Bucknell also has the best overall record in the league during that span at 156-45.

Overall Success at Sojka Pavilion
• The Bison are an incredible 85-11 at Sojka Pavilion since the start of the 2015-16 season.
• Now in its 20th season playing at Sojka Pavilion, Bucknell is 181-78 (.698) on its home court.
• Bucknell finished a perfect 16-0 at Sojka Pavilion in 2016-17.
• The Bison are currently 10-3 in Sojka this season and 28-5 during the Trevor Woodruff era.

Up Next
With a win on Monday, Bucknell will advance to the semifinal round of the Patriot League Tournament and will face either #8 Navy or #1 Holy Cross on Thursday, March 10.

Women's Basketball Hosts Lehigh Monday for Patriot League Quarterfinal Game

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Players Mentioned

Cecelia Collins

Isabella King

Julie Kulesza

Taylor O'Brien

Emma Shaffer

Remi Sisselman

Marly Walls

Women's Basketball Hosts Lehigh Monday for Patriot League Quarterfinal Game

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Cecelia Collins

Isabella King

Julie Kulesza

Taylor O'Brien

Emma Shaffer

Remi Sisselman

Marly Walls

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