Lehigh women’s basketball loses to Colgate, drops four straight

The Lehigh women’s basketball team played in an exciting game Saturday night against Colgate University in Stabler Arena, falling by just one point, 61-60.

In the game, there were 10 ties as the score went back and forth throughout. Going into halftime, the score was tied 30-30 thanks to a strong effort by Lehigh in the closing minutes of the half. Though the Mountain Hawks put forth a valiant effort for the entire game, they would eventually fall short at the end, making it their fourth loss in a row, their longest losing streak all season.

“Our game against Colgate wasn’t one of our best overall performances,” sophomore guard/forward Kiernan McCloskey said. “While we had some stretches of really good play, we struggled to put together a full game.”

Lehigh’s leading performers in the game on the offensive side of the floor were senior guard Sarah Williams with a career-high-tying 16 points, junior forward Kerry Kinek with eight points, freshman guard Quinci Mann with eight points and four assists. Senior guard Katie O’Reilly led the way on both sides of the floor, tallying nine points, two assists and two steals.

“Individually, I think that both Sarah Williams and Katie O’Reilly played very well last night,” sophomore guard Kayla Burton said. “They both played very strong, disciplined defense and tried to make plays on the offensive end of the court. Katie pushed the tempo and Sarah was able to break the press and create plays for our team. They both really stepped up for our team last night.”

Heading into the playoffs on a four game losing streak, McCloskey said the Mountain Hawks are very hungry for a win and are willing to put in the time needed to get that win.

“Heading into playoffs, we’re very focused on embracing the scout and knowing our opponents inside and out,” McCloskey said. “We want to dictate the tempo and pace of the game offensively and defensively and not allow Holy Cross to get comfortable.”

In the last four games, Lehigh has struggled with shooting the ball, only making on average 33.2 percent of its shots. On the defensive side, Lehigh is allowing its opponents to make nearly 41 percent of its shots over the last four games. Going into the playoff next week the Mountain Hawks will need to get back on track now that the Patriot League title is on the line.

“We feel like we beat ourselves honestly,” junior forward Kerry Kinek said. “We are way better than we played. We just need to pick it up on both ends and get the ball rolling into playoffs, we look forward to playing to our full potential against Holy Cross.”

With the loss on Saturday, Lehigh falls to 17-11 on the season and moving forward becomes the No. 6 seed in the Patriot League Tournament. They will go on the road to face College of the Holy Cross on Friday at 6 p.m.