Lehigh University women claim title, berth
This college basketball season has been anything but normal, but the end goal of a championship and NCAA Tournament berth has remained the same.
That’s what kept the Lehigh women’s basketball team going during tough times — including not only the pandemic, but the loss of close family members — and on Sunday night, the Mountain Hawks reached their ultimate goal.
Fourth-seeded Lehigh only trailed once in the game’s final 35 minutes, 55 seconds in a 64-54 win at second-seeded Boston University. It marked the Mountain Hawks’ fourth Patriot League Tournament championship and first since 2010.
“I’m really proud of the team,” Lehigh head coach Sue Troyan said. “I thought they came out and really executed the game plan on the offensive and defensive ends. There have been a lot of ups and downs, highs and lows this season, and their resiliency through it all has been
unbelievable. There were times in the season when we really questioned if we should be doing this.
“But it always came back to what they wanted and they always said they wanted to play and wanted to compete for a championship,” she said.
The Mountain Hawks’ championship run saw them beat fifthseeded Holy Cross last Saturday, snap Bucknell’s 18-game winning streak Thursday, then win Sunday at second-seeded Boston University — the site where the Mountain Hawks’ season ended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This time around, Lehigh got its chance to face the Terriers, and made the most of it.
A 7-0 Mountain Hawks run midway through the first quarter turned an 8-6 deficit into a 13-8 lead. The margin reached 12, then despite scoring just one point over the final seven minutes of the second quarter, Lehigh went into the locker room leading 31-29.
The Terriers scored the first four second-half points to take a 33-31 advantage, but the Mountain Hawks answered. Two 3-pointers from freshman Jamie Behar in the final three minutes of the third quarter helped open a 45-39 lead. Midway through the fourth, the Terriers surged to within three, but a 10-0 run ended with four straight Clair Steele free throws to ice the victory.
Frannie Hottinger led Lehigh with 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting. Patriot League Tournament MVP Emma Grothaus finished with 12 points and eight boards while Megan Walker added 10.
“We knew they wanted to slow down the game,” said Grothaus. “We had the game plan to attack and finish through contact or attack and kick to our 3-point shot. You can’t take both of them away. Our mindset was to not let them slow us down at all.”
The Mountain Hawks’ offense did its job, while the defense held Boston University more than 12 points below its scoring average.
“You win championships on the defensive end and I think we showed that in the semifinals Thursday and finals today,” senior guard Mary Clougherty said.
All the way back in August, Lehigh knew it would be a very different season and the team would need to be adaptable and resilient to be successful.
“We knew things were going to change,” Troyan said. “When things change, we knew we had to be resilient to come through it.”
The Mountain Hawks came through as champions. Next stop, the NCAA Tournament in San Antonio.