Feb. 25, 2011

Center Valley, Pa. — It’s the mantra of just about any sports fan.

“Give me meaningful games late in the season.”

Check.

Only two of the eight seeds for the 2011 Patriot League Tournament have been locked up entering the weekend, meaning the four games on Saturday’s docket all carry a certain level of postseason implication and drama. With the final regular season weekend on the doorstep, there is much to be decided.

Patriot League Women's Basketball Weekend Preview - 2.25.11

Lafayette and Colgate are the only two teams that know for certain what seed they have when the Tournament kicks off Saturday, March 5 at campus sites. The Leopards locked up the No. 7 seed when Colgate lost to Holy Cross Wednesday night. At the same time, the Raiders were assured of the eighth seed in the League’s postseason bracket.

Beyond that, Wednesday did little to settle anything, leaving the rest of the housekeeping to be determined Saturday.

Holy Cross had an outside shot at claiming the No. 4 seed and the final home-court responsibility in the Tournament’s quarterfinals. The Crusaders did their part with a 74-59 win over Colgate, but Army’s 58-36 victory over Lafayette froze the Crusaders out of the top four, setting up Saturday’s pivotal matchup with Bucknell at Christl Arena. The winner of that game will clinch the fourth seed.

American, Navy and Lehigh secured home-court advantage in the quarterfinals a week ago, but the teams need one more day to sort out the numbers. Navy has the best chance at garnering the top overall seed. It’s simple for the Mids: win and they’re the No. 1 seed. It’s easier said than done, however; when Navy last met Colgate, the Raiders pulled off a 59-55 upset in Annapolis to snap the Mids’ program-best 6-0 start in League play.

American and Lehigh both have the ability to capture the No. 1 seed, but would need a Navy loss -- and help -- to make it happen. A breakdown of possibilities is on page two of this release.

Patriot League Notebook

“JUST WIN, BABY!”
Just like Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders of the 1970s, Navy, Bucknell and Army will be thinking that old saying Saturday when the games get going. The Mids are locked in a three-way tie atop the Patriot League standings with Lehigh and American at 9-4, but Navy controls its own destiny. A Mids victory at Colgate would clinch the No. 1 seed in the Patriot League Tournament and give Navy home-court advantage through the championship game, should it advance. While Navy will be playing for the top seed, Bucknell and Army will lock up at West Point in a battle that will determine the fourth and final top-four seed in the League Tournament, which has added meaning this year because a home quarterfinal game comes with it. Bucknell eeked out a 49-48 victory four weeks ago in Lewisburg, Pa., over the Black Knights. A Bucknell win would lift them into a tie at 7-7 with Army, but the Bison would have swept the season series to earn the tiebreaker. A Bison loss would drop them to the sixth seed at 6-8.

LEHIGH EARNS TOP SEED IF...
Since the Lehigh-Holy Cross tilt will be the last to tip off Saturday, the Mountain Hawks and Crusaders will have the advantage of knowing how the day’s other three games panned out. Lehigh would wind up at the No. 1 seed if Navy falls at Colgate and the Mountain Hawks defeat Holy Cross at night. The result of American’s game against Lafayette doesn’t play into the seeding scenario in regards to Lehigh. Even if both Lehigh and American win to finish the regular season 10-4 and Navy falls to 9-5, the Mountain Hawks would won the tiebreaker because of a season split against the third-place Mids, while the Eagles were swept. If Navy wins, then Lehigh would need a victory over Holy Cross to wrap up the No. 2 seed and have home-court advantage through the semifinals.

AMERICAN TAKES NO. 1 IF...
The Eagles’ 63-56 loss at Navy Wednesday severely hampers their ability to capture the No. 1 seed, although it’s not impossible. American would need some help -- a lot of it, in fact -- in order to have it happen. The first order of business is the Eagles would need to take care of business at home against Lafayette, a team they defeated 66-51 in Easton four weeks ago. Second, American would need both Navy and Lehigh to lose Saturday, dropping each to 9-5. Should the Eagles fall at home to Lafayette, they would clinch the No. 3 seed and the Mountain Hawks would finish no worse than the second seed.

HOLY CROSS WILL GET THE FIFTH OR SIXTH SEEDS
When Army defeated Lafayette Wednesday night, Holy Cross was eliminated from garnering the No. 4 seed and a quarterfinal home game in the League Tournament. The Crusaders have a beat on the fifth seed, but have the benefit of knowing the result of the Bucknell-Army game beforehand. That game begins at 1 p.m., while Holy Cross tips at Lehigh at 7:30 p.m. If Bucknell wins, the Crusaders will need to beat Lehigh to secure the fifth seed. If Army wins, Holy Cross would clinch the No. 5 seed with a win. If Army wins and Holy Cross loses, the Crusaders would be tied with Bucknell at 6-8, at which point Sunday morning’s College Basketball News RPI ratings would be used to break the tie. Entering Saturday, Holy Cross is No. 258 while Bucknell is 281.

SATURDAY’S FINAL FOUR LEAGUE GAMES ON ALL-ACCESS
For the fifth straight year, Patriot League All-Access has streamed virtually every League contest during the regular season. All eight remaining regular season contests will be available through All-Access. For a monthly fee of $7.95 or a yearly subscription of $19.95, fans can watch available games from the comfort of their home or office right on their computers. In addition, a subscription gets fans access to archived and future Patriot League championship events. During the fall, the field hockey, volleyball, men and women’s soccer championships were streamed live, and anybody with a subscription can watch these events to get caught up on what happened in the League over the first part of the 2010-11 athletic year. Fans with a February subscription were able to watch all three days of the League’s Swimming and Diving Championships at Bucknell. Six of the seven games of the Patriot League Women’s Basketball Tournament will be streamed via All-Access.

CBS COLLEGE SPORTS NETWORK TO TELEVISE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
The third Patriot League women’s basketball game this season to be shown on national television will be the championship matchup of the League tournament, set for Saturday, March 12 at 6 p.m. from the campus of the highest remaining seed. Two regular season contests this year were on the CBSC airwaves, with Navy winning 55-46 at Army Jan. 22, and the Black Knights returning the favor 57-46 Saturday in Annapolis.

ERIN ANTHONY NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAN
Army senior forward Erin Anthony added another academic accolade to her already large list of achievements. The Allentown, Pa., native was named to the Capital One Academic All-America First Team for women’s basketball as chosen by the College Sports Information Directors of American (CoSIDA), it was announced Thursday. Anthony, a two-time Patriot League Women’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, have a 3.79 cumulative grade-point average at the United States Military Academy while majoring in civil engineering. Anthony was one of four seniors to earn Academic All-District honors earlier this season, and one of two to garner First-Team accolades. Bucknell’s Joyce Novacek, who made the District 2 First Team, was the other. American’s Liz Leer and Lehigh’s Erica Prosser were named to the Academic All-District 2 Second Team.

AMERICAN, LEHIGH GARNER MID-MAJOR VOTES
Two of the hottest teams entering Wednesday’s games were listed in Tuesday’s CollegeInsider.com Women’s Mid-Major Top 25. American, which was riding a four-game win streak before Wednesday’s loss at Navy, garnered seven votes in the poll. Lehigh, which has won nine in a row for the second time this season after Wednesday’s victory over Bucknell, captured one vote in Tuesday’s rankings and could move up depending on how Saturday’s results shake out.

HEAD OF THE CLASS
Army senior forward Erin Anthony was named one of the 10 finalists for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award, it was announced earlier this season. She has started all of her team’s games this season, and is currently tops in the League in scoring and rebounding per game. She’s the only player in the League averaging a double-double, and she posted a streak of six consecutive games with double-doubles earlier this year. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - community, classroom, character and competition. The winner will be announced at the NCAA Women’s Final Four. Anthony is looking to become Army’s second Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award winner, as Andrew Maisano won it last year for men’s lacrosse.

FIGHTING FOR HOME COURT
This season the Patriot League Tournament will be contested on the home courts of the higher seeds in all rounds of the bracket. In recent years the quarterfinals and semifinals have been hosted at one central location, with just the championship game being played at the site of the better seed. That means this season there is even more emphasis on League play. Teams will be playing not only for seeding, but also for the opportunity to host one (or more) games in the Patriot League Tournament.

NON-LEAGUE PLAY DONE FOR NOW
The last game against a non-League opponent for the regular season took place Jan. 9, when Army defeated Yale 63-56 at West Point behind a 21-point, 14-rebound performance from Erin Anthony. That pulled the Patriot League’s overall non-League record to 52-61 on the season, with the next matchup taking place when the League champion advances to the NCAA Tournament. As a whole, the League owns records of .500 or better against 10 other conferences, including America East (5-4), Conference USA (1-0), Great West (3-0), Horizon League (2-1), Ivy League (8-7), MAAC (7-7), MEAC (3-1), Mountain West (1-1), Northeast (13-8) and the Sun Belt (1-0). The Patriot League finished 2009-10 with a 49-67 non-League mark.

HOLIDAY TOURNAMENT PLAY NETS TWO TITLES
In addition to American and Lehigh continuing their winning streaks that spanned the entire stretch of December, both teams walked away with holiday tournament titles. Lehigh defeated Rider in the first game of the Christmas City Classic, and then took down Mississippi State in overtime in the title game a day later in what may have been the Mountain Hawks’ best effort of the season. The 68-59 win, in which Lehigh’s defense held the Bulldogs to just one point in the extra session, was the program’s first-ever triumph over a team from the SEC in four tries. In West Long Branch, N.J., American posted wins over Binghamton and Brown to capture the title of the Hawk Holiday Classic. The League’s 5-3 overall mark in holiday tournaments this season is an improvement over the 3-5 showing during the 2009-10 season.

Patriot League Games

BUCKNELL BISON (9-16, 6-7) AT ARMY BLACK KNIGHTS (13-14, 7-6)
Christl Arena; West Point, N.Y. • Saturday, 1 p.m.
Series: Bucknell, 29-17
Streak: Bucknell, One Win Last Meeting: Bucknell, 49-48 (1.29.2011)
Last Army Win: 49-37 (2.28.2010) Last Five Games: Bucknell, 4-1

Every game is important Saturday, and it starts off at 1 p.m. when Bucknell visits Army with the No. 4 seed and home-court advantage in the quarterfinals on the line ... The Bison captured a 49-48 victory over the Black Knights four weeks ago in Lewisburg, when Shelby Romine scored a team-high 16 points and Army shot 33 percent from the floor ... Erin Anthony led all scorers with 19 points, and her basket brought Army within 49-48 in the final minute ... After Romine turned the ball over on an offensive foul with 11 seconds left, the Black Knights had an opportunity for the final shot ... Meagan Doucette’s layup didn’t make it above the rim and time expired as the teams scrambled for the rebound.

BUCKNELL Lehigh’s success continued Wednesday night, as three players scored in double digits and the Mountain Hawks won their eighth straight with a dominating 72-39 victory over Bucknell in Stabler Arena ... Erica Prosser scored 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting, and tallied eight assists and six steals to lead Lehigh ... The victory pulled the Mountain Hawks into a three-way tie for first place in the Patriot League with Navy and American ... Bucknell senior Cosima Higham had a game-high 10 rebounds, while Shelby Romine and Joyce Novacek each tallied seven points ... Lehigh’s shooting was on target all night ... The Mountain Hawks hit on 54 percent of their attempts in the first half to build a 34-18 lead, and hit on 50 percent of their attempts after halftime ... Bucknell took a 14-13 lead with 10:28 to go until halftime on a Romine jumper ... That would be the Bison’s last lead of the game, as Lehigh orchestrated a 20-5 run to close the half ... Emily Gratch started the spurt with a layup, and Kelly Peterson sank two straight treys before Gratch added another two-point bucket ... The Mountain Hawks started the run by scoring 16 unanswered points, capped off by an Alexa Williams layup ... The Mountain Hawks’ offense kept humming in the second half ... A pair of Dentler free throws gave Lehigh a 44-19 lead with 14:07 remaining ... Taylor Phillips sank a 3-pointer to make it a 49-29 game with 10:33 on the clock, but Lehigh replied with a 23-7 run that built the lead to 72-36 with 1:26 to go ... Bucknell went 3 of 15 on 3-point attempts, while Lehigh finished the game with 8-of-15 shooting from downtown ... A Bucknell win would clinch the Bison the No. 4 seed in the Patriot League Tournament ... Should it happen, the Bison would host a Patriot League postseason Tournament game for the first time in program history.

ARMY A pair of seniors led the way for Army, as Erin Anthony scored 14 points and Nalini Hawkins added 13 as the Black Knights cruised to a 58-36 win over visiting Lafayette Wednesday night ... Army earned a split of the season series from the Leopards ... Lafayette won the first meeting of the season 54-42 Jan. 26 in Easton ... Anthony tallied nine rebounds on the night, moving her into sole possession of third place on the Patriot League’s all-time boards chart with 1,012 ... Hawkins added four assists and four steals in the win ... With the victory, Army stayed in the hunt for as high as the fourth seed in the Patriot League Tournament, which begins Saturday, March 5 on campus sites ... The Black Knights host Bucknell Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. with the No. 4 seed and home-court advantage in the quarterfinals of the tournament on the line ... Army started the game fast with a 3-pointer from Jessie Coiffard, and the Black Knights took a 13-4 lead midway through the first half ... It ballooned to a 24-8 lead after two free throws from Laura Baranek with 2:43 until the break ... Army led 28-16 at halftime ... Lafayette was cold from the floor in the first half, hitting 6-of-27 shots (22 percent) ... Army had the cold hand in the teams’ first meeting, shooting 4 of 32 from the field during the first 20 minutes ... Army’s offense didn’t relent following the intermission ... The Black Knights started the second period on a 16-3 run, taking a 44-19 lead with 13:26 on the clock after a traditional three-point play from Anthony ... Hawkins hit a jumper with six minutes remaining to put Army on top 54-24 ... Army cruised from there ... Army has won two straight games, while Lafayette has dropped three in a row.

NAVY MIDSHIPMEN (16-11, 9-4) AT COLGATE RAIDERS (7-20, 2-11)
Cotterell Court; Hamilton, N.Y. • Saturday, 2 p.m.
Series: Navy, 26-17
Streak: Colgate, One Win Last Meeting: Colgate, 59-55 (1.29.2011)
Last Navy Win: 69-57 (3.6.2010) Last Five Games: Navy, 3-2

Colgate snapped Navy’s program-best six-game win streak to open Patriot League play when the Raiders captured a 59-55 win in Annapolis Jan. 29 ... The Mids look to avenge that defeat and end the regular season on a high note ... A Navy victory would clinch the top overall seed in the Patriot League Tournament for the first time in program history ... The Mids shared their only regular-season title with Holy Cross in 1997-98, and were the Tournament’s No. 2 seed in 1997 and again in 1998 ... Tayler Wejnert’s double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds spurred the Raiders in their win.

NAVY Angela Myers tallied team-highs of 15 points and nine assists, and two teammates scored in double digits as Navy scored a 63-56 victory over American Wednesday night in Alumni Hall ... The Mids swept the two-game regular season series from the Eagles for the second time in the last three years ... Erin Edwards added 13 points and six rebounds for the Mids, while Cassie Consedine and Jade Geif each narrowly missed double-doubles ... Consedine scored 10 points with nine rebounds, while Geif poured in nine with 11 boards ... Liz Leer scored a game-high 16 points for American, which saw its four-game win streak snapped ... She added seven rebounds and three blocks in the effort ... Lisa Strack had 15 points and eight rebounds, while tying for the team-high with four assists ... Neither team was able to gain much of an advantage in the early stages of the game ... Navy took a 10-5 lead just over four minutes into the game, but American replied with a 5-0 spurt to tie the game at the 15:47 mark ... The first half featured six ties, with the last coming at 18-18 with 5:04 left ... Navy scored 11 of the next 17 points to take a 29-24 lead into the break ... The Mids maintained their slim lead through the first eight minutes of the second half until Nicole Ryan sank her only triple of the game with 11:36 on the clock to knot the game at 40 ... Leer added a trey of her own on American’s next possession, and the Eagles were up 43-40, giving them their first lead of the game since a 14-12 advantage in the first half ... The teams traded the lead over the next several minutes ... Audrey Bauer’s 3-pointer put Navy up 49-47 with 7:44 on the clock, but Stephanie Anya scored two of her eight points on the night with a turnaround jumper in the lane on the Eagles’ next possession ... Myers replied with a drive and layup for Navy, rebuilding the Mids’ two-point lead, before Strack sank 1 of 2 from the foul line to make it a 51-50 game with 6:33 to go ... After Geif went 1 of 2 from the stripe, Sarah Kiely’s bucket tied the game at 52 a little over a minute later ... Navy put together an 11-4 run to close the game, making plays down the stretch ... Two Myers foul shots and an Alix Membreno layup put the Mids in front by four, and Geif’s layup and two Edwards free throws gave Navy a 60-54 lead with 38 seconds remaining ... Navy shot just 29 percent (7 of 24) from beyond the arc, but went 14 of 19 from the charity stripe, all in the second half ... Myers was a perfect 10 of 10 on foul shots ... American finished the game 4 of 15 on 3-pointers, with Leer accounting for two of those made attempts ... Both teams took care of the ball, combining for just 11 turnovers (six for American).

COLGATE Freshman Brisje Malone scored a game-high 16 points and led five Crusaders in double figures as Holy Cross got past Colgate 74-59 in the Hart Center Wednesday night ... Malone added four rebounds and four assists to her score total ... Amy Lepley had 14 points and a team-high nine rebounds for Holy Cross, Kelly Hamner had 12 points off the bench and Alex Smith and Whitney Fremeau scored 11 apiece ... Tayler Wejnert led Colgate with 15 points, while Kelly Korkowski recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards ... Jhazmine Lynch had 10 points and five assists for the Raiders ... Colgate started the game by taking a 5-2 lead in the opening two minutes ... Fremeau sank a jumper and, after a Raider miss, Malone swished one of her two 3-pointers on the night to put Holy Cross up 7-5 with 17:16 remaining in the first half ... The Crusaders extended the lead to as many as 10 points on two occasions before taking a 39-30 lead into the locker room ... A 3-pointer by Alex Smith re-established the Crusaders’ double-digit lead early in the second half, and a triple from Meredith Ward and a Hamner jumper gave Holy Cross a 56-41 advantage with 12:35 on the clock ... Lynch scored the next three points for Colgate, cutting the deficit to 12 at 56-44, but Alyssa May’s 3-pointer gave Holy Cross a 15-point lead once more ... Tricia Oakes scored a layup on a pretty inside move to cut Holy Cross’ lead to 67-56 with just over two minutes left on the clock ... It was the closest the Raiders would get, as a 7-1 run by the Crusaders gave them their biggest lead of the game at 74-57 with 13 seconds remaining ... Colgate led 26-22 in points in the paint and 19-17 in bench scoring, but the Crusaders posted a 48-38 advantage on the glass ... The Raiders shot 40 percent in both halves and finished 25 of 62 from the floor, but were ice cold from long range, going 0 of 16 ... Colgate will enter the Patriot League Tournament as the No. 8 seed.

LAFAYETTE LEOPARDS (11-17, 4-9) AT AMERICAN EAGLES (19-9, 9-4)
Bender Arena; Washington, D.C. • Saturday, 2 p.m.
Series: American, 23-4
Streak: American, Four Wins Last Meeting: American, 66-51 (1.29.2011)
Last Lafayette Win: 58-56 (3.7.2009) Last Five Games: American, 4-1

American looks for victory No. 20 on the season when it hosts Lafayette Saturday afternoon in Bender Arena ... More importantly for the Eagles, a victory would keep their hopes alive for the regular-season crown and No. 1 seed in the Patriot League Tournament ... American was the No. 1 seed in 2007-08 and shared the regualr-season title last season with Lehigh, but settled for the second seed because of tiebreakers ... Stephanie Anya had 16 points and nine rebounds in American’s 66-51 win when the teams last met Jan. 29.

LAFAYETTE A pair of seniors led the way for Army, as Erin Anthony scored 14 points and Nalini Hawkins added 13 as the Black Knights cruised to a 58-36 win over visiting Lafayette Wednesday night ... Senior LaKeisha Wright led the Leopards with a game-high 16 points ... Samantha Jordan added eight points on 4 of 8 from the field, while Sarah McGorry held the team lead with nine rebounds ... Army earned a split of the season series from the Leopards ... Lafayette won the first meeting of the season 54-42 Jan. 26 in Easton ... Anthony tallied nine rebounds on the night, moving her into sole possession of third place on the Patriot League’s all-time boards chart with 1,012 ... With the victory, Army stayed in the hunt for as high as the fourth seed in the Patriot League Tournament, which begins Saturday, March 5 on campus sites ... Though Lafayette lost, the Leopards locked up the No. 7 seed thanks to Holy Cross’ win over Colgate ... Army started the game fast with a 3-pointer from Jessie Coiffard, and the Black Knights took a 13-4 lead midway through the first half ... It ballooned to a 24-8 lead after two free throws from Laura Baranek with 2:43 until the break ... Army led 28-16 at halftime ... Lafayette was cold from the floor in the first half, hitting 6-of-27 shots (22 percent). Army had the cold hand in the teams’ first meeting, shooting 4 of 32 from the field during the first 20 minutes ... Army’s offense didn’t relent. The Black Knights started the second period on a 16-3 run, taking a 44-19 lead with 13:26 on the clock after a traditional three-point play from Anthony ... Hawkins hit a jumper with six minutes remaining to put Army on top 54-24. Army cruised from there ... Lafayette has dropped three in a row entering Saturday’s matchup at American ... The game will tip at 2 p.m. in Bender Arena ... American needs a win and have both Navy and Lehigh lose to secure the top overall seed in the Patriot League Tournament ... The Leopards might be trekking back to Washington for the quarterfinals of the League Tournament depending on the rest of the results around the League Saturday.

AMERICAN Angela Myers tallied team-highs of 15 points and nine assists, and two teammates scored in double digits as Navy scored a 63-56 victory over American Wednesday night in Alumni Hall ... The Mids swept the two-game regular season series from the Eagles for the second time in the last three years ... Liz Leer scored a game-high 16 points for American, which saw its four-game win streak snapped ... She added seven rebounds and three blocks in the effort ... Lisa Strack had 15 points and eight rebounds, while tying for the team-high with four assists ... Neither team was able to gain much of an advantage in the early stages of the game ... Navy took a 10-5 lead just over four minutes into the game, but American replied with a 5-0 spurt to tie the game at the 15:47 mark ... The first half featured six ties, with the last coming at 18-18 with 5:04 left ... Navy scored 11 of the next 17 points to take a 29-24 lead into the break ... The Mids maintained their slim lead through the first eight minutes of the second half until Nicole Ryan sank her only triple of the game with 11:36 on the clock to knot the game at 40 ... Leer added a trey of her own on American’s next possession, and the Eagles were up 43-40, giving them their first lead of the game since a 14-12 advantage in the first half ... The teams traded the lead over the next several minutes ... Audrey Bauer’s 3-pointer put Navy up 49-47 with 7:44 on the clock, but Stephanie Anya scored two of her eight points on the night with a turnaround jumper in the lane on the Eagles’ next possession ... Myers replied with a drive and layup for Navy, rebuilding the Mids’ two-point lead, before Strack sank 1 of 2 from the foul line to make it a 51-50 game with 6:33 to go ... After Geif went 1 of 2 from the stripe, Sarah Kiely’s bucket tied the game at 52 a little over a minute later ... Navy put together an 11-4 run to close the game, making plays down the stretch ... Two Myers foul shots and an Alix Membreno layup put the Mids in front by four, and Geif’s layup and two Edwards free throws gave Navy a 60-54 lead with 38 seconds remaining ... Navy shot just 29 percent (7 of 24) from beyond the arc, but went 14 of 19 from the charity stripe, all in the second half ... American finished the game 4 of 15 on 3-pointers, with Leer accounting for two of those made attempts ... Ryan and Alexis Dobbs split the others ... Both teams took care of the ball, combining for just 11 turnovers (six for American) ... The Eagles would clinch the No. 1 seed in the League Tournament with a win over Lafayette and losses by Navy and Lehigh.

HOLY CROSS CRUSADERS (10-18, 6-7) AT LEHIGH MOUNTAIN HAWKS (19-8, 9-4)
Stabler Arena; Bethlehem, Pa. • Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Series: Holy Cross, 37-12 TV: Service Electric Channel 2 
Streak: Lehigh, Six Wins Last Meeting: Lehigh, 77-67 (1.29.2011)
Last Holy Cross Win: 46-44 (3.9.2008) Last Five Games: Lehigh, 5-0

Lehigh has won the last six meetings with Holy Cross, including the 77-67 victory in Worcester four weeks ago ... Junior Emily Gratch scored 21 points in 26 minutes off the bench to lead the Mountain Hawks, who used a definitive second-half run to put the game away ... Erica Prosser scored nine points with nine assists and six steals ... Whitney Fremeau scored 26 points in the loss ... After trailing by double digits in the first half and seven at halftime, the Crusaders rallied to take a 53-52 lead before Lehigh put together a 10-0 run to claim the victory ... Depending on how the afternoon games play out, Lehigh could be playing for its third straight No. 1 seed in the League Tournament, while Holy Cross might need a win to clinch the fifth seed.

HOLY CROSS Freshman Brisje Malone scored a game-high 16 points and led five Crusaders in double figures as Holy Cross got past Colgate 74-59 in the Hart Center Wednesday night ... Just minutes before posting the victory, Holy Cross was eliminated from hosting a quarterfinal game in the Patriot League Tournament when Army defeated Lafayette ... Malone added four rebounds and four assists to her score total ... Amy Lepley had 14 points and a team-high nine rebounds for Holy Cross, Kelly Hamner had 12 points off the bench and Alex Smith and Whitney Fremeau scored 11 apiece ... Colgate started the game by taking a 5-2 lead in the opening two minutes ... Fremeau sank a jumper and, after a Raider miss, Malone swished one of her two 3-pointers on the night to put Holy Cross up 7-5 with 17:16 remaining in the first half ... The Crusaders extended the lead to as many as 10 points on two occasions before taking a 39-30 lead into the locker room ... A 3-pointer by Alex Smith re-established the Crusaders’ double-digit lead early in the second half, and a triple from Meredith Ward and a Hamner jumper gave Holy Cross a 56-41 advantage with 12:35 on the clock ... Tricia Oakes scored a layup on a pretty inside move to cut Holy Cross’ lead to 67-56 with just over two minutes left on the clock ... It was the closest the Raiders would get, as a 7-1 run by the Crusaders gave them their biggest lead of the game at 74-57 with 13 seconds remaining ... The Crusaders posted a 48-38 advantage on the glass ... Holy Cross finished the game shooting 36 percent from beyond the arc, including a 6-of-11 (54.5 percent) stretch in the second half ... A victory over Lehigh would give Holy Cross the No. 5 seed in the Patriot League Tournament ... A loss coupled with a Bucknell victory would clinch the No. 6 seed for the Crusaders.

LEHIGH The Mountain Hawks’ success continued Wednesday night, as three players scored in double digits and they won their eighth straight with a dominating 72-39 victory over Bucknell in Stabler Arena ... Erica Prosser scored 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting, and tallied eight assists and six steals to lead Lehigh ... The victory pulled the Mountain Hawks into a three-way tie for first place in the Patriot League with Navy and American ... Courtney Dentler pitched in 15 points in 23 minutes off the bench, while Alexa Williams added 10 points, three rebounds, two blocks and a pair of steals ... Lehigh’s shooting was on target all night ... The Mountain Hawks hit on 54 percent of their attempts in the first half to build a 34-18 lead, and hit on 50 percent of their attempts after halftime ... Bucknell took a 14-13 lead with 10:28 to go until halftime on a Romine jumper ... That would be the Bison’s last lead of the game, as Lehigh orchestrated a 20-5 run to close the half ... Emily Gratch started the spurt with a layup, and Kelly Peterson sank two straight treys before Gratch added another two-point bucket ... The Mountain Hawks started the run by scoring 16 unanswered points, capped off by a Williams layup ... The Mountain Hawks’ offense kept humming in the second half. A pair of Dentler free throws gave Lehigh a 44-19 lead with 14:07 remaining ... Taylor Phillips sank a 3-pointer to make it a 49-29 game with 10:33 on the clock, but Lehigh replied with a 23-7 run that built the lead to 72-36 with 1:26 to go ... Kristen Dalton finished the game with a team-high seven rebounds for the Mountain Hawks ... Bucknell went 3 of 15 on 3-point attempts, while Lehigh finished the game with 8-of-15 shooting from downtown ... Lehigh would clinch the top overall seed with a win and a Navy loss earlier in the day at Colgate.