March 1, 2013

Patriot League Women's Basketball Weekend Preview - 3.1.13

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. — “Parity” was a word used by several coaches in the preseason when asked about what they thought about Patriot League competition in women’s basketball.

Those assessments have proven to be pretty accurate. None of the eight seeds have officially been settled with 13 League games in the books. It all comes down to the final day of the regular season, and even then it might not end with just the final scores on Saturday. Depending on how the standings shake out, the tiebreaker process all the way down to RPI ratings may have to be employed.

First-place Navy can wrap up the Patriot League Tournament’s top overall seed with a victory Saturday night at Bucknell or an Army loss earlier in the day to Lehigh. Should that happen, it would be the first outright regular-season title in Navy women’s basketball history.

Army will try to force the Mids’ hands, however. If the Black Knights defeat Lehigh, Navy will have to beat Bucknell for the top overall seed. If the Mids falter in Lewisburg, Pa., the two academies would share the regular-season crown but Army would collect the top seed thanks to its season sweep of the Mids.

Seed Nos. 3 through 8 are pretty wide open, with several subdivisions within that group. American, Holy Cross and Lehigh could all tie for third, while Bucknell and Lafayette are fighting to finish as high as sixth. In that mix as well is Colgate, which can claim either the sixth, seventh or eighth seeds depending on Saturday’s results.

PATRIOT LEAGUE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL QUICK HITS

• Will 11 rebounds Wednesday night, Bucknell’s Lindsay Horbatuck moved up into 10th place on the Patriot League’s single-season top 10 for rebounds. She’s 10th with 283.

• Lafayette’s Danielle Fiacco had seven blocks Wednesday to give her 94 for the season, fourth-most in League single-season history.

• Army’s Aimee Oertner joined the League’s single-season top 10 in blocks with two Wednesday night. She’s tied for 10th with 76.

• Navy has never captured an outright Patriot League regular-season title. The Mids will do just that Saturday with a win at Bucknell or an Army loss to Lehigh.

• If Colgate defeats Holy Cross Saturday, all eight teams will have at least 10 wins. That has never happened before in League history.

• Holy Cross junior is one 3-pointer away from tying her career high in a single season. She had 85 last season.

• The top five scorers in League play are all underclassmen - three juniors and two freshmen.

Patriot League Notebook

HOME COOKING
First-place Navy and hot-on-its-trails Army are guaranteed to host their Patriot League Tournament games through the semifinals after Wednesday’s results. The Mids had already secured that right, but Army sewed up home court through at least the semis with its impressive 62-35 victory at Holy Cross. Five of Navy’s six wins in its two championship runs in 2011 and ‘12 have come at Alumni Hall, while Army is looking to get a home playoff win after losing at Christl Arena in last year’s No. 4 vs. 5 game to eventual finalist Holy Cross.

TWO MYSTERY SITES
Wednesday did nothing to settle the remaining two quarterfinal sites for the Patriot League Tournament. Holy Cross would have officially sewed up a home game Thursday with a win over Army, but Wednesday’s loss delayed that confirmation for at least a few days. The Crusaders will try again Saturday when they hit the road to visit Colgate. Meanwhile, American snapped a four-game skid with a win at home over Bucknell, and the Eagles are back within the friendly confines of Bender Arena Saturday when they welcome Lafayette. A win over the Leopards would also wrap up a home quarterfinal for the Eagles. Finally, Holy Cross and American could actually clinch home games in the quarters if Army defeats Lehigh at West Point in Saturday’s first game of the day.

THE CLUB GETS BIGGER AGAIN
Jade Geif scored four points in short order in Navy’s win last Saturday over Colgate to become the fifth Patriot League player and third junior this season to reach the 1,000-point mark for her career. Interestingly, Geif has reached the mark entirely on the strength of two-point buckets and free throws, and has not made a 3-pointer in her collegiate career. Bucknell junior Shelby Romine reached 1,000 points earlier in February, while Colgate senior Jhazmine Lynch, Holy Cross senior Amy Lepley and Holy Cross junior Alex Smith all hit the plateau earlier this season.

BOARDS BENCHMARK
Lehigh freshman Kerry Kinek broke school and Patriot League records with 22 rebounds in the Mountain Hawks’ 49-37 victory at Bucknell Feb. 20. The Whitehall, Pa., native broke a League record that was first set in 1995 and had been matched twice since, most recently in 2005. The old mark was 21.

IT’S ACADEMIC
A pair of guards from American were honored Jan. 31 as Alexis Dobbs and Jen Dumiak were named to the Capital One Academic All-District First Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Both are on the first team in District 2. Dobbs is making her second straight appearance on the squad, while Dumiak is a first-time honoree. Dobbs is the reigning Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

FIRST IS A GOOD PLACE TO BE
Navy entered the second leg of League play in first place 6-1 for the second time in the last three years. The Mids claimed the first of their two straight titles in 2011 after hitting the turn with just one League loss, and they hope this year’s result is exactly the same. Five of the last 10 League champions were at least tied for first place at the turn, but only two since 2006: Navy (2011) and Lehigh (2009). Holy Cross (2003, 2005) and Colgate (2004) were also no worse than tied for first at the midway point before capturing the League crown that March.

BIG YEAR FOR UNDERCLASSMEN
Take a look at the League’s top 20 in scoring, and get ready to see a lot of these names next season. Seventeen of the League’s top 20 scorers are all underclassmen. The only seniors are Army’s Anna Simmers (third, 13.5 ppg), Colgate’s Jhazmine Lynch (18th, 8.8) and Bucknell’s Alyssa Dunn (20th, 8.3). Holy Cross junior Alex Smith leads at 14.8 per game, while Army freshman Kelsey Minato is the top scorer in League play at 16.0.

PLAYING FOR HOME COURT
All regular-season games right up to the very end have been meaningful for all eight teams. That’s because campus sites will host all rounds of the 2013 Patriot League Tournament, with quarterfinals set for March 7. It’s the third straight season in which the tournament has employed this format. Neutral sites hosted the quarters and semis from 2007-10, while the top two seeds hosted pods in 2005-06.

PATRIOT LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP ON CBS SPORTS NETWORK
The most important Patriot League game of the season will be televised nationally on CBS Sports Network when the two remaining teams battle it out Saturday, March 16 for the 2012-13 League crown. Bob Socci will have the call and Amy Lawrence the analysis for the game that will tip at 6 p.m.

Patriot League Games

LEHIGH MOUNTAIN HAWKS (14-14, 6-7) AT ARMY BLACK KNIGHTS (21-7, 10-3)
Christl Arena (5,043); West Point, N.Y. • Saturday, 1 p.m.
Series: Lehigh, 28-24
Streak: Army, 1 Last Meeting: Army, 61-56 (Bethlehem, Pa.; 2.2.13)
Last Lehigh Win: 56-47 (Bethlehem, Pa.; 2.25.12) Last Five Games: Army, 3-2

• Anna Simmers led four Black Knights with a game-high 21 points in Army’s 61-56 win at Lehigh Feb. 2.
• Jen Hazlett added 15 points for Army, while Kelsey Minato chipped in 11 and Aimee Oertner 10.
• Lindsay Hoskins led Lehigh with 18 points, and Kelly Peterson had 10 off the bench.
• Army has already wrapped up no worse than the Patriot League Tournament’s No. 2 seed, but must win to have any chance at the No. 1.
• Lehigh could force a three-way tie for third with a win plus losses by both American and Holy Cross.
• In any tie involving Lehigh, it would come down to RPI against either American or Holy Cross (or both), and currently the Mountain Hawks are 79 slots behind American and 46 places behind Holy Cross.
• The earliest any possible rematch between Army and Lehigh could happen in the tournament would be the semifinals.

LEHIGH Jade Geif scored 18 points, Kara Pollinger chipped in 13 and Navy’s defense held Lehigh to 27 percent shooting in the Mids’ 49-34 victory Wednesday night at Alumni Hall ... Navy clinched at least a share of the Patriot League regular-season title, and will play for the outright crown plus the League Tournament’s No. 1 seed Saturday when it visits Bucknell at 7 p.m. ... Sarah Williams paced Lehigh with 10 points in 21 minutes off the bench, but the Mountain Hawk offense was clearly off kilter all night ... Kerry Kinek, who is averaging 12.8 points per game in League play, was held to just two points, both from the foul line, as she was 0-for-7 from the field ... Becky Guman had eight points and four rebounds for Lehigh ... Navy jumped out to an 8-0 lead by the 15:18 mark of the first half, but the Mids’ offense joined Lehigh in the deep freeze over the next several minutes ... Lehigh broke an 0-for-14 stretch from the field to begin the game when Williams’3-pointer got the Mountain Hawks on the board with 8:11 to go, ending a scoreless stretch of 7:07 ... Pollinger hit a bucket with 3:11 remaining to give Navy its first double-digit lead at 18-8, and the Mids took a 22-13 edge into the locker room ... Lehigh climbed within five points with a 6-2 spurt to open the second half, with Hilary Weaver’s jumper to finish off a fast break brought the Mountain Hawks within 24-19 with 5:01 gone in the second ... Navy shot right back with nine straight points and ballooned it into a 16-2 run with Pollinger’s trey giving the Mids a 40-21 lead with 7:16 on the clock ... Navy cruised from there, never letting Lehigh get closer than 15 points the rest of the way ... Navy dropped 14 3-pointers in the programs’ previous meeting Jan. 30 in Bethlehem, Pa. ... It was a different story this time around, with the Mids shooting just 20 percent (5 of 25) from beyond the arc ... Navy posted a 42-40 edge in rebounding, including an 18-13 lead on the offensive glass ... Lehigh was 4 of 14 from downtown and 4 of 7 from the foul line ... The Mountain Hawks can be no worse than the No. 5 seed, but can get themselves into a three-way tie for third at 7-7.

ARMY clinched itself no worse than the No. 2 seed in the Patriot League Tournament after Anna Simmers netted a game-high 21 points to lead the Black Knights to a commanding 62-35 victory over Holy Cross Wednesday night at the Hart Center ... Kelsey Minato added 12 points and five assists for Army, which reached double-digit wins in League play for the first time since 2006-07 ... Alex Smith led Holy Cross with 16 points, but all of them came in the first half ... Molly Hourigan was the Crusaders’ next-highest scorer with five points, and Amy Lepley hauled in six rebounds ... Holy Cross was without junior Brisje Malone, who was not available due to illness ... Army’s defense forced Holy Cross into a staggering 31 turnovers, while the Black Knights committed just eight themselves ... Army posted a commanding 26-6 advantage in points off those miscues ... Ashley Cooper’s 3-pointer gave Holy Cross its first lead at 8-7 at the 16:09 mark ... The Crusaders built a five-point advantage on a Smith 3-pointer, part of 11 consecutive Crusader points scored by the junior guard ... The last of her 11 during that spurt put Holy Cross up 19-11 at the 9:10 mark of the first ... Olivia Schretzman capped off a 13-0 Army run with two straight baskets to give the Black Knights a 23-19 advantage ... The Crusaders rallied back to tie the game twice in the final minutes of the first half, but Minato’s 3-pointer with 1:05 left was enough to give Army a 29-27 lead at halftime ... Army edged out to a 32-29 lead 3:21 into the second, and then orchestrated a 9-0 run ... Schretzman and Simmers hit buckets and Minato sank a 3-pointer to get it going, helping lift the Black Knights to a 41-29 lead at the 12:03 mark ... Raquel Scott’s layup cut the Army advantage to 42-32 at the 9:29 mark, but the Black Knights put together another spurt, this one 9-1, to move in front 51-33 with 5:21 to go ... Simmers drilled back-to-back buckets, and Minato followed up with another 3-pointer ... Holy Cross went without a point in the game’s final 4:10, and was outscored 20-3 over the last 9:29 ... Army finished just shy of 41 percent (24 of 59) for the game, and hit 8 of 20 from the 3-point line, with Simmers and Minato accounting for three each ... Holy Cross shot 9 of 18 in the first half but was only 3 of 15 in the second to finish at 36.4 percent for the game.

LAFAYETTE LEOPARDS (11-17, 4-9) AT AMERICAN EAGLES (14-13, 7-6)
Bender Arena (3,044); Washington, D.C. • Saturday, 2 p.m.
Series: American, 27-5
Streak: Lafayette, 1 Last Meeting: Lafayette, 49-47 (Easton, Pa.; 2.2.13)
Last American Win: 59-54 (Washington, D.C.; 3.1.12) Last Five Games: American, 4-1

• Emily Homan’s 15 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks powered Lafayette to a 49-47 win over American Feb. 2 in Easton.
• Jen Dumiak scored a team-high 12 for the Eagles, while Arron Zimmerman pitched in nine points. • Lafayette held a 48-32 edge on the glass.
• The Leopards snapped an eight-game skid against American with last month’s win.
• American wraps up a home quarterfinal tournament game with a win, and would most likely claim the No. 3 seed, but that would depend on the rest of Saturday’s developments.
• Lafayette would be either the No. 6 or 7 seed with a win. A loss could drop the Leopards to No. 8, but only if Colgate defeats Holy Cross.

LAFAYETTE Buckets were at a premium and defense was plentiful, and in the end Colgate outlasted Lafayette 39-37 Wednesday night at Kirby Sports Center ... Jhazmine Lynch rebounded from Saturday’s scoreless outing with a team-high 11 points for the Raiders, who gave themselves an opportunity to reach as high as the sixth seed in next week’s Patriot League Tournament with a win Saturday at home against Holy Cross ... Josie Stockill added eight points for Colgate, while Lulu Brase collected seven rebounds ... Danielle Fiacco led Lafayette with 11 points, seven rebounds and seven blocks, while Emily Homan grabbed 10 boards, blocked five shots and scored six points ... Maddie Peabody had seven points, seven rebounds and three assists ... Lafayette led 8-6 midway through the first and edged ahead 15-10 with 5:30 to go until the half on a Jamie O’Hare 3-pointer ... Lauryn Kobiela and Paige Kritcher sank back-to-back treys to give the Raiders a 16-15 lead before the Leopards on Peabody’s jumper 34 seconds later ... Lafayette had a slim 19-17 advantage at the intermission ... Stockill tied the game at 22 when she went 1 of 2 from the foul line, and Catherine Lewis gave Colgate a 25-22 lead at the 14:47 mark with a 3-pointer from just to the left of the top of the arc ... It took nearly three and a half minutes for the next score, but Lewis struck again with a trey to give the Raiders their biggest lead of the game at 28-22 ... Lafayette fought back to tie the game exclusively on free throws, with Brya Freeland sinking two straight from the line to knot the game at 30-all with 7:45 to go ... Peabody’s basket less than a minute later finished off a methodical 10-2 Leopard run, giving them a two point lead with under seven minutes to go ... Colgate replied with six straight points, with Kobiela scoring on a drive after a Lynch dish to give the Raiders a 36-32 lead with 3:32 to play ... Peabody struck again with a triple, and Fiacco went 2 of 2 at the line to give the Leopards a slim 37-36 margin at the 2:45 mark ... Lynch missed a jumper on Colgate’s next possession ... Homan came down with the board for Lafayette, but she turned it over shortly thereafter ... Lewis was credited with the steal, and Lynch wound up with the ball and the layup to put Colgate up 38-37 with 2:26 left ... The Leopards had several cracks at the bucket in the waning moments, including two tries in the paint, one each from Fiacco and Homan, but neither would go ... Stockill collected the rebound off the second miss, was fouled and hit 1 of 2 from the line with three seconds left ... Freeland’s running 3-point attempt from just inside half court bounced off the side of the rim.

AMERICAN Geleisa George paced American with a career-best 17 points and Alexis Dobbs added 11 points and six rebounds in the Eagles’ 53-42 victory over visiting Bucknell Wednesday night at Bender Arena ... Shelby Romine led Bucknell with 11 points, all in the second half, and Lindsay Horbatuck hauled in a game-best 11 rebounds ... The Bison dropped their eighth straight game, while American improved to 14-13 and 7-6 in the Patriot League ... Sarah Kiely gave American an early 12-6 lead on a 3-pointer at the 14:05 mark ... The Eagles methodically put together a half-closing 13-3 run that spanned nearly 10 minutes, with Dobbs and George leading them to a 30-15 halftime advantage ... Audrey Dotson’s bucket brought Bucknell within 34-22 less than five minutes into the second, while Alyssa Dunn completed a three-point play and Tyler Craig hit 1 of 2 from the foul line to cut the Eagles’ lead to 10 with 12:10 on the clock ... The Eagles replied with a 10-0 run, with George providing eight of the points, to take a 46-26 lead at the 8:28 mark ... The Bison answered with a 13-3 run of their own, with Dotson capping it off to make it a 49-39 game with under four minutes to play ... American regained control with five straight points over the game’s next 1:20 to put it away ... American shot 36.5 percent for the game, and hung on despite hitting just seven field goals after halftime ... Bucknell was 5 of 26 in the first half from the floor, but shot just over 41 percent in the second half to finish at 30 percent for the game ... The Eagles outscored Bucknell 15-0 from the 3-point line, with the latter going 0-for-7 ... Should American host a quarterfinal game, the Eagles would welcome their opponent to Bender Arena Thursday at 7 p.m.

HOLY CROSS CRUSADERS (15-13, 7-6) AT COLGATE RAIDERS (9-19, 3-10)
Cotterell Court (3,100); Hamilton, N.Y. • Saturday, 4 p.m.
Series: Holy Cross, 45-4
Streak: Holy Cross, 2 Last Meeting: Holy Cross, 71-61 (Worcester, Mass.; 2.2.13)
Last Colgate Win: 74-69 (Hamilton, N.Y.; 1.28.12) Last Five Games: Holy Cross, 4-1

• Alex Smith scored a team-best 17 points and three other Crusaders reached double digits in Holy Cross’ 71-61 win over Colgate Feb. 2.
• Brisje Malone and Amy Lepley scored 12 apiece for Holy Cross, and Christine Ganser had 11.
• Jhazmine Lynch of Colgate led all scorers with 19, while nine Raiders grabbed at least two rebounds.
• Both teams shot better than 40 percent in the second half, but the Crusaders outscored the Raiders 17-6 at the line in the game.
• Holy Cross wraps up a home quarterfinal game with a win (or a Lehigh loss).
• Colgate can move up to as high as the No. 6 seed with a victory.
• Saturday’s meeting between the two will be their 50th.

HOLY CROSS clinched itself no worse than the No. 2 seed in the Patriot League Tournament after Anna Simmers netted a game-high 21 points to lead the Black Knights to a commanding 62-35 victory over Holy Cross Wednesday night at the Hart Center ... Kelsey Minato added 12 points and five assists for Army, which reached double-digit wins in League play for the first time since 2006-07 ... Alex Smith led Holy Cross with 16 points, but all of them came in the first half ... Molly Hourigan was the Crusaders’ next-highest scorer with five points, and Amy Lepley hauled in six rebounds ... Holy Cross was without junior Brisje Malone, who was not available due to illness ... Army’s defense forced Holy Cross into a staggering 31 turnovers, while the Black Knights committed just eight themselves ... Army posted a commanding 26-6 advantage in points off those miscues ... Ashley Cooper’s 3-pointer gave Holy Cross its first lead at 8-7 at the 16:09 mark ... The Crusaders built a five-point advantage on a Smith 3-pointer, part of 11 consecutive Crusader points scored by the junior guard ... The last of her 11 during that spurt put Holy Cross up 19-11 at the 9:10 mark of the first ... Olivia Schretzman capped off a 13-0 Army run with two straight baskets to give the Black Knights a 23-19 advantage ... The Crusaders rallied back to tie the game twice in the final minutes of the first half, but Minato’s 3-pointer with 1:05 left was enough to give Army a 29-27 lead at halftime ... Army edged out to a 32-29 lead 3:21 into the second, and then orchestrated a 9-0 run ... Schretzman and Simmers hit buckets and Minato sank a 3-pointer to get it going, helping lift the Black Knights to a 41-29 lead at the 12:03 mark ... Raquel Scott’s layup cut the Army advantage to 42-32 at the 9:29 mark, but the Black Knights put together another spurt, this one 9-1, to move in front 51-33 with 5:21 to go ... Simmers drilled back-to-back buckets, and Minato followed up with another 3-pointer ... Holy Cross went without a point in the game’s final 4:10, and was outscored 20-3 over the last 9:29 ... Army finished just shy of 41 percent (24 of 59) for the game, and hit 8 of 20 from the 3-point line, with Simmers and Minato accounting for three each ... Holy Cross shot 9 of 18 in the first half but was only 3 of 15 in the second to finish at 36.4 percent for the game

COLGATE Buckets were at a premium and defense was plentiful, and in the end Colgate outlasted Lafayette 39-37 Wednesday night at Kirby Sports Center ... Jhazmine Lynch rebounded from Saturday’s scoreless outing with a team-high 11 points for the Raiders, who gave themselves an opportunity to reach as high as the sixth seed in next week’s Patriot League Tournament with a win Saturday at home against Holy Cross ... Josie Stockill added eight points for Colgate, while Lulu Brase collected seven rebounds ... Danielle Fiacco led Lafayette with 11 points, seven rebounds and seven blocks, while Emily Homan grabbed 10 boards, blocked five shots and scored six points ... Maddie Peabody had seven points, seven rebounds and three assists ... Lafayette led 8-6 midway through the first and edged ahead 15-10 with 5:30 to go until the half on a Jamie O’Hare 3-pointer ... Lauryn Kobiela and Paige Kritcher sank back-to-back treys to give the Raiders a 16-15 lead before the Leopards on Peabody’s jumper 34 seconds later ... Lafayette had a slim 19-17 advantage at the intermission ... Stockill tied the game at 22 when she went 1 of 2 from the foul line, and Catherine Lewis gave Colgate a 25-22 lead at the 14:47 mark with a 3-pointer from just to the left of the top of the arc ... It took nearly three and a half minutes for the next score, but Lewis struck again with a trey to give the Raiders their biggest lead of the game at 28-22 ... Lafayette fought back to tie the game exclusively on free throws, with Brya Freeland sinking two straight from the line to knot the game at 30-all with 7:45 to go ... Peabody’s basket less than a minute later finished off a methodical 10-2 Leopard run, giving them a two point lead with under seven minutes to go ... Colgate replied with six straight points, with Kobiela scoring on a drive after a Lynch dish to give the Raiders a 36-32 lead with 3:32 to play ... Peabody struck again with a triple, and Fiacco went 2 of 2 at the line to give the Leopards a slim 37-36 margin at the 2:45 mark ... Lynch missed a jumper on Colgate’s next possession ... Homan came down with the board for Lafayette, but she turned it over shortly thereafter ... Lewis was credited with the steal, and Lynch wound up with the ball and the layup to put Colgate up 38-37 with 2:26 left ... The Leopards had several cracks at the bucket in the waning moments, including two tries in the paint, one each from Fiacco and Homan, but neither would go ... Stockill collected the rebound off the second miss, was fouled and hit 1 of 2 from the line with three seconds left ... Freeland’s running 3-point attempt from just inside half court bounced off the side of the rim.

NAVY MIDSHIPMEN (18-10, 11-2) AT BUCKNELL BISON (13-15, 4-9)
Sojka Pavilion (4,000); Lewisburg, Pa. • Saturday, 7 p.m.
Series: Bucknell, 27-24
Streak: Navy, 9 Last Meeting: Navy, 61-40 (Annapolis, Md.; 2.2.13)
Last Bucknell Win: 66-54 (Annapolis, Md.; 2.7.09) Last Five Games: Navy, 5-0

• Kara Pollinger’s 16 points, five assists and three steals helped lift Navy to a 61-40 win over Bucknell Feb. 2 in Annapolis.
• Chloe Stapleton and Jade Geif poured in 13 points each for the Mids, who had 11 steals and forced 21 Bison turnovers.
• Lindsay Horbatuck led Bucknell with a double-double of 11 points and 11 boards.
• Pollinger scored 10 points during Navy’s game-closing 20-3 run.
• If Army bests Lehigh earlier in the day, Navy must win at Bucknell to capture the tournament’s No. 1 seed.
• Bucknell, which has lost eight straight, would clinch the sixth seed with a victory.

NAVY Jade Geif scored 18 points, Kara Pollinger chipped in 13 and Navy’s defense held Lehigh to 27 percent shooting in the Mids’ 49-34 victory Wednesday night at Alumni Hall ... Navy clinched at least a share of the Patriot League regular-season title, and will play for the outright crown plus the League Tournament’s No. 1 seed Saturday when it visits Bucknell at 7 p.m. ... Sarah Williams paced Lehigh with 10 points in 21 minutes off the bench, but the Mountain Hawk offense was clearly off kilter all night ... Kerry Kinek, who is averaging 12.8 points per game in League play, was held to just two points, both from the foul line, as she was 0-for-7 from the field ... Becky Guman had eight points and four rebounds for Lehigh ... Navy jumped out to an 8-0 lead by the 15:18 mark of the first half, but the Mids’ offense joined Lehigh in the deep freeze over the next several minutes ... Lehigh broke an 0-for-14 stretch from the field to begin the game when Williams’3-pointer got the Mountain Hawks on the board with 8:11 to go, ending a scoreless stretch of 7:07 ... Pollinger hit a bucket with 3:11 remaining to give Navy its first double-digit lead at 18-8, and the Mids took a 22-13 edge into the locker room ... Lehigh climbed within five points with a 6-2 spurt to open the second half, with Hilary Weaver’s jumper to finish off a fast break brought the Mountain Hawks within 24-19 with 5:01 gone in the second ... Navy shot right back with nine straight points and ballooned it into a 16-2 run with Pollinger’s trey giving the Mids a 40-21 lead with 7:16 on the clock ... Navy cruised from there, never letting Lehigh get closer than 15 points the rest of the way ... Navy dropped 14 3-pointers in the programs’ previous meeting Jan. 30 in Bethlehem, Pa. ... It was a different story this time around, with the Mids shooting just 20 percent (5 of 25) from beyond the arc ... Navy posted a 42-40 edge in rebounding, including an 18-13 lead on the offensive glass ... Lehigh was 4 of 14 from downtown and 4 of 7 from the foul line ... The Mids will host Thursday’s quarterfinal game at 7 p.m., and could face either Bucknell, Colgate or Lafayette.

BUCKNELL Geleisa George paced American with a career-best 17 points and Alexis Dobbs added 11 points and six rebounds in the Eagles’ 53-42 victory over visiting Bucknell Wednesday night at Bender Arena ... Shelby Romine led Bucknell with 11 points, all in the second half, and Lindsay Horbatuck hauled in a game-best 11 rebounds ... The Bison dropped their eighth straight game, while American improved to 14-13 and 7-6 in the Patriot League ... Sarah Kiely gave American an early 12-6 lead on a 3-pointer at the 14:05 mark ... The Eagles methodically put together a half-closing 13-3 run that spanned nearly 10 minutes, with Dobbs and George leading them to a 30-15 halftime advantage ... Audrey Dotson’s bucket brought Bucknell within 34-22 less than five minutes into the second, while Alyssa Dunn completed a three-point play and Tyler Craig hit 1 of 2 from the foul line to cut the Eagles’ lead to 10 with 12:10 on the clock ... The Eagles replied with a 10-0 run, with George providing eight of the points, to take a 46-26 lead at the 8:28 mark ... The Bison answered with a 13-3 run of their own, with Dotson capping it off to make it a 49-39 game with under four minutes to play ... American regained control with five straight points over the game’s next 1:20 to put it away ... American shot 36.5 percent for the game, and hung on despite hitting just seven field goals after halftime ... Bucknell was 5 of 26 in the first half from the floor, but shot just over 41 percent in the second half to finish at 30 percent for the game ... The Eagles outscored Bucknell 15-0 from the 3-point line, with the latter going 0-for-7 ... With a win, Bucknell’s likely quarterfinal opponent would be either Holy Cross or American on the road ... If the Bison lose to Navy, they are likely to take on Army or have a rematch with the Mids in Thursday’s quarterfinals, again on the road.