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Bucknell Nipped by Lehigh in Women's Basketball, 56-55
Feb. 21, 2006
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Kesha Champion (Chesapeake, Va./Indian River) and Hope Foster (Washington, D.C./Dunbar) each scored 15 points, but it was not enough as the Bucknell women's basketball team lost its second consecutive one-point game as it fell to Lehigh 56-55 Tuesday night at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison, who fell to 16-10 overall and 9-4 in the Patriot League, had a golden opportunity to put themselves in position to host at least the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of next week's Patriot League Tournament with Holy Cross losing to Colgate Tuesday. However, Bucknell now enters Saturday's play tied with Holy Cross for second place in the conference standings. In order to host, the Bison need to win Saturday at home against Army and hope the Mountain Hawks can win their fourth straight game and upset the Crusaders. Lehigh (10-16, 5-8 PL) was led by the trio of Melissa Rich, Adrienne Blount and Sara Ellis, who combined to score 48 of the team's 56 points. Rich tallied a career-high 17 points to match Blount for game-high honors. Ellis poured in 14, all in the second half. After leading the first 24 minutes of the game, Bucknell finally relinquished its lead when Lehigh scored five straight points, all by Ellis, to tie the game at 34-34. Rich scored on a short jumper on the Mountain Hawks' next possession to give Lehigh its first lead. It was the first of 11 lead changes in the game with all coming in the final 15 minutes of play. There were also four ties in the contest as neither team led by more than three points the rest of the way. Leading 55-52 after back-to-back layups by Champion, including one on a fast break after a steal by Lauren Schober (Chicago, Ill./Regina Dominican) that forced a Lehigh timeout, it appeared as though Bucknell was going to get a defensive stop, but Ellis connected on a one-handed turnaround jumper in the lane as the shot clock wound down to get Lehigh back to within one point. The Bison would not score the rest of the game.
The eventual winning basket came with just over one minute remaining and the shot clock winding down again. This time Jenny Callan, who had been 0-for-6 from the field, ended up with the ball on the right wing and knocked down a 10-foot jumper with three seconds on the shot clock. Bucknell still had plenty of time to score and got an open look for Lindsey Hollobaugh (Loganton, Pa./Central Mountain) from 3-point range, but she fired a little long and Callan came down with the rebound with about 40 seconds showing on the clock. The Bison defense, which featured Hollobaugh guarding Ellis, the Preseason Patriot League Player of the Year, much of the night, forced Ellis into a missed shot from just inside the foul line. Foster corralled the rebound and Bucknell called timeout with 11.8 seconds remaining. On the final possession Champion came up short on a heavily defended jumper from the right wing as time expired. Early in the game it looked like Bucknell might cruise to its 17th win of the season as it jumped out to a 9-0 lead and held Lehigh to just 3-for-13 shooting early in the contest, but the Mountain Hawks battled back to close to within 19-18 following a layup from Rich, who scored 10 of her 17 points in the first half. In addition to her team-high 15 points, which came on 7 of 11 shooting, Champion grabbed five rebounds and dished out two assists. Foster hauled in a game-high nine rebounds and blocked five shots. The game was very even statistically between the two teams as Bucknell shot 41 percent to Lehigh's 38 percent. The Mountain Hawks won the battle of the boards 34-32 and had 12 turnovers compared to 14 for the Bison. Lehigh made 12 of 14 free throws, while the Bison connected on 9 of 12, including 7 of 8 for Foster. Bucknell closes out its regular season by hosting Army Saturday. The Bison lost to the first-place Black Knights 66-65 last Saturday at West Point. With a win and a Holy Cross loss, Bucknell will earn the right to host a portion of the Patriot League Tournament. |
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