Optimism for Leopards, Mountain Hawks is high
Like a lot of basketball teams last postseason, coach Sue Troyan’s Lehigh University squad felt it was cheated out of a legitimate chance to win a championship.
Troyan’s Mountain Hawks, as the sixth seed, upset No. 3 Colgate 69-62 in a quarterfinal round matchup. They were prepared to travel to Boston to take on second-seeded Boston University when the coronavirus pandemic stymied the sports world in mid-March.
“That semifinal was taken away,” Troyan said, “and we’re coming back a hungry team this year.”
Lehigh, a solid 19-11 overall a season ago, gets a tough test to open its 2021 campaign, playing a back-to-back, cityto-city doubleheader against archrival Lafayette. The Mountain Hawks travel to Easton on Saturday for a noon tipoff; they host the Leopards at 2 p.m. Sunday in Bethlehem.
Lafayette was picked for third place and Lehigh fourth in the 10-team Patriot League, according to the preseason poll as voted on by coaches and sports information directors.
Bucknell, which features former Nazareth High star Tessa Brugler, was the top team last season and is an easy choice as preseason favorite.
The start of the Patriot League season was pushed until 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, league officials announced in November. With the new league alignment in place, Lafayette and Lehigh will play four times during the season instead of the usual two.
“We’re ready,” said the longtime coach who enters her 26th season at Lehigh. “Our kids are champing at the bit to get out there and play.”
Troyan is also excited about this season’s team.
Lehigh lost a trio of starters to graduation but it still should possess plenty of firepower to score points. Juniors Emma Grothaus, a forward, and Megan Walker, a guard, return as starters. The senior leadership comes from Mary Clougherty and Mariah Sexe.
Grothaus averaged 10.2 points and 6.1 rebounds a season ago, while Clougherty and Walker combined to drop 88 of the team’s 187 3-pointers.
Troyan will encourage her players to push the pace on offense.
“We’ve got a lot of depth, we’ll play fast and we can score the ball in a variety of ways,” she said. “I also think we have resilience and toughness.”
At Lafayette, coach Kia Damon-Olson will count on the inside presence of the league’s preseason player of the year, senior Natalie Kucowski, a 6-3 senior forward.
Kucowski is already the program’s all-time leading rebounder (1,024) and last season she led the Leopards in points (392), rebounds (372), assists (75) and blocks (80). Kucowski will be joined in the frontcourt by junior Makaila Wilson, who returns from an injury.
“Natalie, to her credit, she has really embraced development and she has improved each year she’s been in college,” Damon-Olson said.
Lafayette is also experienced in the backcourt with senior Drew Freeland and junior Nicole Johnson back to play pivotal roles.
The Leopards finished 15-14 overall and 11-7 and in the league a season ago — the first time Lafayette posted a winning overall record since the 1997-98 season.