Women’s basketball uses ‘share it and shoot it’ strategy

Since second-year coach Addie Micir took charge of the Lehigh women’s basketball team in 2022, the team has stuck to one motto that began to develop during her time as an assistant coach: Share it and shoot it.

Sharing the ball is something that Lehigh has done well in the past two seasons. They led the Patriot League in assists per game with 15.68 last season and are on pace to do it again.

Shooting, in the case of the Mountain Hawks, involves attempting long-range shots at a rate that is unmatched by any other team in recent league history. On any given possession, Lehigh has a 37% chance of attempting a 3-pointer, 10% higher than Navy, the next highest team in the conference. 

However, this high-risk, high-reward offensive philosophy has ushered in mixed results.

This season, Lehigh utilized that shooting philosophy in successful performances, including their record-breaking 106-60 win over La Salle University on Dec. 7. On the other hand, it has also culminated in games like their 67-57 loss on Dec. 30 against Rider University, where the team shot 6 for 37 from three-point range.

“They all have the green light, so they get to shoot with confidence,” Micir said. “I think that’s the most important piece.”

Lehigh has finished in the top three in three-point attempt percentage in the league for each of the last three seasons, but the team has fallen back this year to fifth. Heading out of winter break, the team had a stretch of five games where they only shot 21%, which bled into the start of Patriot League play.

Entering their seventh game in conference play against Colgate, Lehigh was 2-4 and had only shot above 23% on 3-pointers in one game, their Jan. 17 win over Navy.

Colgate presented a unique challenge for Lehigh. The Raiders shoot the fewest 3-pointers in the league, but are the best at defending against them. Opposing teams have only shot 24.7% against them from beyond the arc.

A struggling Lehigh offense was about to go up against the best long-range shooting defense in the league in a nationally-televised road game.

Lehigh’s offense switched up their game plan. Nine of Lehigh’s 15 first-half field goals were in the paint. Colgate began fouling aggressively, sending Lehigh to the foul line 10 times in the second quarter.

Lehigh only attempted six 3-pointers, the lowest of any half this season at that point. Five of them went in. 

At the half, Lehigh had successfully made the adjustments necessary to turn an unfavorable defensive matchup into a 45-20 lead that turned into a 79-61 win.

Micir pointed to the Colgate game as an example of how versatile her offense can be.

“If they play us tight on the perimeter, then it opens up the paint and we get to go and take it to the rack,” Micir said.

The team has since reverted to attempting 24 or more 3-pointers in each game, which has helped them defeat top-half teams like Boston University and first-place Holy Cross.

Junior guard Ella Stemmer led Lehigh’s scoring in the Holy Cross game with 13 points. Stemmer only started 10 of 31 games last season but, due to key departures, has become the centerpiece of Micir’s share-it-and-shoot-it offense this season.

She’s leading the Patriot League in three-point makes per game and became the first Lehigh player ever to hit 10 3-pointers in a single game on Dec. 10 against Pittsburgh when she tied with Liz Feeley’s, ‘87, team record of 37 points in a single game, which was set in Feb. 1986.

“We really pride ourselves on taking open shots, but for us, that comes from a lot of different things,” Stemmer said. “We like to play fast; we’re running in transition.”

The fast play that Lehigh employs has also led to the team leading the league in turnovers, putting pressure on the team to play better defense in order to maintain leads. On average, the turnover deficit allows Lehigh’s opponents to shoot nearly seven more field goals per game.

Junior forward Meghan O’Brien, who leads the team in rebounds and blocks, said the team’s offense and defense feed off of each other from a morale standpoint, as the team celebrates each other when doing well on both sides of the ball.

“When one person does something well and we celebrate it, then that’s when we all start playing better,” O’Brien said. “We’re happy for each other.”

After their win on Feb. 3 against Holy Cross, Lehigh has now won four of their last six games and are currently in a three-way tie for fourth place, the final home playoff spot in the Patriot League.

Ever since the win against Colgate, where Lehigh adjusted their offensive gameplan, the team has continued to find success behind their offensive versatility.

“It’s not the plan to just shoot threes,” Micir said. “It’s a product of what we’re able to do.”