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Patriot League Women's Basketball Tournament Recap - Day Two
March 7, 2010
Worcester, Mass.—The top two seeds scored convincing victories in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals on Sunday, setting up a showdown for the Patriot League Championship. For the second straight season, Lehigh will host the Patriot League Women’s Basketball Tournament Championship. The top-seeded Mountain Hawks recorded a 73-57 win over No. 5 Holy Cross to propel themselves into the title game. Second-seeded American recorded a 72-47 win over No. 3 Navy to reach the championship game for the third time in program history. Lehigh and American both finished the Patriot League regular season with identical 13-1 marks. The teams’ lone Patriot League losses were to each other. Semifinal No. 1: Lehigh 73, Holy Cross 57 Lehigh (28-3) notched a 73-57 victory over host Holy Cross (10-21) to move into its second consecutive Patriot League Tournament Championship. The Mountain Hawks have now won a Patriot League-record 15 straight games. Lehigh’s 28 wins are also a Patriot League record. Lehigh trailed for a total of 59 seconds, building leads as large as 20 points. The Mountain Hawks’ interior tandem of sophomores Emily Gratch and Alexa Williams combined to score 32 points, as Gratch scored a game-high 20 points. Gratch also pulled down a team-high nine rebounds. The Mountain Hawks shot 48 percent for the game, including a 50-percent effort in the second half. Gratch made nine field goals on 13 attempts. Lehigh also build an advantage from long range, making 41 percent of its three-pointers while holding the Crusaders to 24 percent from behind the arc. Lehigh senior Alex Ross, the Patriot League’s all-time leader in career three-pointers, finished with three three-pointers, while junior Erica Prosser made 3-of-5 from long range. Senior Briana McFadden scored 12 points to lead three Crusaders in double figures. McFadden was 3-of-10 from the field but made 6-of-7 free throw attempts. Junior Whitney Fremeau added 12 points, while freshman Amy Lepley tallied 11 points and 10 rebounds. Lehigh’s tournament win over Holy Cross was its first Patriot League Tournament victory over the Crusaders in eight tries. The Mountain Hawks will take on either American or Navy in Saturday’s Patriot League Tournament Championship. It will be Lehigh’s fourth trip to the title game. The Mountain Hawks are 2-1 in championship contests, including a victory in last year’s title tilt. Semifinal No. 2: No. 2 American 72, No. 3 Navy 47 American used strong interior play to pull away for a 72-47 semifinal victory over Navy (17-14), pushing the Eagles into the Patriot League Championship for the first time since 2007. The Eagles outscored Navy by a 34-18 margin in the paint. American also outrebounded the Mids by a 39-29 count. Junior center Liz Leer led the way with 18 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore point guard Raven Harris added 15 points and six rebounds. American shot 63 percent in the second half while limiting Navy to 19 percent in the same span, helping the Eagles stretch a five-point halftime edge into leads as large as 27 points. For the game, American shot 50 percent including a 12-of-19 effort in the second stanza. The Eagles held Navy to 4-of-26 from behind the arc, a day after the Mids made a Patriot League Tournament-record 15 three-pointers. Junior center Cassie Consedine paced Navy in defeat, closing with a game-high 20 points and eight rebounds. Angela Myers added 11 points, five rebounds and three assists.
2010 Patriot League Women's Basketball Tournament
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