Bucknell University
22-8,12-6Patriot
Lehigh (PL Quarterfinals)
19-11,11-7Patriot
Women's Basketball Posts 56-53 Victory Over Lehigh to Advance in PL Tournament
3/7/2022 8:13:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Tickets to Bucknell women's basketball's Patriot League semifinal game vs. Navy on Thursday, March 10 at 6 p.m. are on sale NOW! Visit the campus box office to purchase.
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Isabella King connected on 5-of-9 from 3-point range and scored a career-high 19 points, and the Bucknell women's basketball team ended the game on a 26-13 run to defeat Lehigh 56-53 in the quarterfinals of the Patriot League Tournament Monday evening at Sojka Pavilion. The fourth-seeded Bison advanced to Thursday's semifinal round with the victory and will host eighth-seeded Navy.
Lehigh (19-11) led 31-23 at halftime and was up 40-30 with 2:30 left in the third quarter. Bucknell (22-8), which moved to 3-0 this season against the Mountain Hawks, answered with an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to two points and force a timeout. The run was highlighted by 3-pointers from King and Cecelia Collins, who finished with 10 points and six rebounds.
Bucknell took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by King with 1:07 left to put the Bison up 53-51. Taylor O'Brien and Collins made free throws in the final minute to preserve the lead for Bucknell.
Lehigh missed a pair of 3-pointers in the final 33 seconds, including a potential game-tying 3-pointer by Megan Walker with six seconds remaining.
Collins and Carly Krsul each tallied 10 points for the Bison. O'Brien, who played all 40 minutes, finished with nine points, eight rebounds and a team-high four of the squad's 11 steals. Bucknell forced 17 Mountain Hawk turnovers and scored 13 points off of them.
Emma Grothaus led Lehigh with 13 points and 13 rebounds. It was Bucknell's second double-digit comeback against the Mountain Hawks this season.
Bucknell will return to the Patriot League semifinals for a seventh consecutive season.
Navy led for more than 30 minutes of game time, but the first quarter was even with three lead changes. The Bison forced five turnovers over the first 10 minutes, but Lehigh's 3-for-6 shooting from beyond the arc kept the score close. Bucknell attempted eight threes and connected on just one, as the Mountain Hawks took a 17-14 lead into the second quarter.
Lehigh knocked down two more triples in the second quarter and shot 42.9 percent in the frame, while Bucknell went just 3-of-17 from the field. The Bison also hit on just 1-of-6 3-pointers in the quarter, making it a 2-for-14 showing from the arc over the first half.
An Emma Shaffer layup 2:34 into the second cut Lehigh's lead down to one, but the Mountain Hawks responded with a 7-0 run that made it 26-18 with 4:33 to play in the half. The lead hovered around eight over the last few minutes, and a Mackenzie Kramer jumper with 1:18 to play stretched the deficit to double digits for the first time in the contest.
The Bison were shooting just 25 percent (9-of-36) in the first half while the Mountain Hawks shot 43.3 percent. King made just one of her five 3-pointers by the time the two teams entered the locker rooms.
Lehigh continued to make shots in the third, but the Bison went 3-for-4 from beyond the arc and outscored the Mountain Hawks 15-14 as momentum began to sway.
King hit a three early in the quarter, and Shaffer followed it up with a second-chance layup a minute later to get Bucknell back within five. Still, Lehigh grew its lead to double digits two more times in the third.
With 2:35 to go in the third, Bucknell put together an 8-0 run with back-to-back threes and a Krsul layup that got Bucknell within a single possession of tying at 40-38. The Mountain Hawks ended the quarter with five straight points, and the Bison entered the fourth trailing by seven (45-38).
Bucknell gutted out the last 10 minutes and played its best defense of the game, limiting Lehigh to 2-for-13 shooting (15.4%) and 0-for-4 from long range. King scored eight of her 19 points down the stretch, and Bucknell outscored Lehigh 18-8 in the frame.
Four straight points from O'Brien in the first minute of the fourth brought the Bison within three of tying, and a King triple a minute later cut the deficit to two (47-45). After nearly two scoreless minutes that followed, Collins caught a pass from Marly Walls at the top of the arc and splashed a 3-pointer that tied the game for the first time since the five-minute mark in the first quarter.
4th, 4:38 | Bucknell 48, Lehigh 48
— Bucknell WBB (@Bucknell_WBB) March 8, 2022
We've got a game!
Watch: https://t.co/hXUUbjkiTZ pic.twitter.com/iP3WgOi62Y
Lehigh held its last lead with 1:34 to play following a Grothaus layup, but King went down and hit her fifth 3-pointer of the evening on the next possession to give the Bison the lead for good.
4th | Bucknell 55, Lehigh 53
— Bucknell WBB (@Bucknell_WBB) March 8, 2022
Bison ball with 11.4 seconds to go. Here's a look at King's HUGE shot that put Bucknell on top.
Watch: https://t.co/WsZzL5GIMP pic.twitter.com/zrqUnCR46D
It became a test of Bucknell at the free throw line over the final 60 seconds of play, and while the Bison went just 5-of-12 at the charity stripe in the fourth, they made just enough to stave off Lehigh's final push.
O'Brien and Krsul combined for five of seven Bucknell blocks in the game, and Krsul added three assists and seven rebounds in a well-rounded night. Collins posted a team-high four assists. King shot 63.6 percent (7-of-11) for the night, and the rookie has now made five 3-pointers in three of the last four games.
Up next, Bucknell hosts Navy at Sojka Pavilion for the Patriot League semifinals on Thursday, March 10. The Bison and the Mids split their two games during the regular season, with Navy winning 57-55 in Lewisburg and Bucknell capturing a 53-43 victory in Annapolis. Thursday's game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
