1. Keith Higgins Jr. wins Patriot League Rookie of the Week for two consecutive weeks
Lehigh men’s basketball player Keith Higgins Jr. was named Patriot League Rookie of the Week for two consecutive weeks, making him the first Lehigh men’s basketball player to receive the award two successive times and the second to receive a Patriot League weekly title twice in a row.
As a freshman, Higgins Jr. has played in 21 out of the 22 games this season and started in 12 of them.
Higgins Jr. said he did not expect to be immediately contributing to the team at such a high level.
“I was confident in what I could do… I knew when the opportunity presented itself I would take it,” Higgins Jr. said.
The week before Higgins Jr. received the initial award, Lehigh had matchups with defending Patriot League champion Colgate and Army.
Higgins Jr.’s scored a game high 23 points, also setting his career high. In the next game, Higgins tallied 13 points against Army, tied for most points during that game with junior Evan Taylor.
2. Women’s basketball breaks a Stabler Arena scoring record in a win against Navy
Jan. 19 proved to be a historic night for the women’s basketball team and Stabler Arena as the team broke the Stabler scoring record when they beat Navy 99-65. This game marked the second-most scored points in the women’s basketball team’s history and was the highest scoring game since 1977 at Stabler.
Senior Megan Walker tallied the most points with 22, a season-high.
“My teammates found me in great spots to score, and we had a lot of fun that game which makes everything easier,” Walker said.
Senior Emma Grothaus scored 17 points. There were also two career-high points for freshman players: Ella Stemmer scored 15 and Meghan O’Brien had 13.
Throughout the game, Lehigh never let Navy take the lead, going up by 35 points at one time in the game.
The Stabler atmosphere during the game was helpful for motivating the players to keep up the momentum and secure the win, Walker said.
“It was a really fun atmosphere. We got a lot of energy from everyone who came to the game that night,” Walker said.
Last season, the women’s basketball team won the Patriot League title and made the first round of the NCAA tournament. With only nine games left until the Patriot League tournament this year, the team continues to work hard and focus on winning their remaining games and reliving that glory.
“We want to get better no matter what the score is and keep playing our best basketball,” Walker said. “We love playing together, and those types of games are just really fun to be a part of.”
The women’s basketball team huddles on the court. The Mountain Hawks scored a record high 99 points in a win on Jan. 19 (Josh Liddick/Lehigh Sports)
3. Lehigh wrestling team beats rival Cornell
No. 17 Lehigh wrestling defeated rival No. 8 Cornell University 18-15 on Jan. 8 at Grace Hall.
This marked the 99th match-up between Lehigh and Cornell. The win for the Mountain Hawks adds to their series lead, which currently sits at 63-33-3. Cornell, who is ranked higher than Lehigh, presented a challenge for the team.
However, Lehigh battled through, creating some upsets that were crucial for the Mountain Hawks’ win.
Unranked wrestlers for the Mountain Hawks played a key role in this defeat, taking down top-ranked opponents.
Junior Jake Logan (174) and senior AJ Burkhart (184), both unranked, took down two Cornell wrestlers ranked in the top 15.
4. Men’s lacrosse’s Sisselberger and Leggett named preseason All Americans.
Senior Mike Sisselberger and graduate student Teddy Leggett were named to the Inside Lacrosse preseason All-Americans.
This is the second preseason All-American honor for Sisselberger, who was also included in the USA Lacrosse Magazine list. In his junior season, Sisselberger made history with the highest percentage of faceoff wins in one season in NCAA Division I lacrosse history. He was named Patriot League Faceoff Specialist of the Year as well as a post-season All American. He also broke the record for ground balls in both Lehigh Men’s Lacrosse and the Patriot League history, picking up 160 ground balls in a short season.
Leggett, a returning captain, was named All Patriot League for the third time last season. Leggett is a long stick middie, who led Lehigh in the most caused turnovers with 15.
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