Lehigh women’s basketball punches their ticket to the Big Dance

Sounds of clapping and whistles echoed through the walls of Stabler Arena on Sunday afternoon. Students and parents rushed the court as the final buzzer sounded, embracing each other and the athletes.

A sea of white t-shirts and grey hats labeled with “Patriot League Champions” replaced the traditional brown and white jerseys at center court. Amidst the crowd lay the Patriot League trophy, lifted by the members of the Lehigh women’s basketball team. 

As camera shutters clicked, players and staff members climbed a ladder one by one to cut down the nets. The loudest cheers came from coach Addie Micir, who sliced the final piece of the net, twirled it in the air and tossed it into the crowd of excited players.

With the nets down, it was official — the Mountain Hawks are on their way to the Big Dance.

In an all-around team effort, Lehigh defeated Army 74-62 at Stabler Arena, punching its ticket to March Madness and winning the Patriot League Title. 

The Mountain Hawks improved to 27-6 (15-3 Patriot League) — the most wins in a season since 2009-10, when they had 29. The Black Knights fell to 24-7 (14-4 Patriot League).

Colleen McQuillen, senior guard and captain, fifth-year wing Maddie Albrecht and junior forward Lily Fandre each scored 13 points to lead the Mountain Hawks. Albrecht added 10 rebounds to her statline, recording a double-double. 

Ella Stemmer, senior guard and captain, scored 12 points. Remi Sisselman, senior guard and forward, added 11 points off the bench.

Army senior guard Trinity Hardy tallied a game-high 20 points on 36.4% shooting from the field, while sophomore guard Camryn Tade followed with 17 points and three 3-pointers. 

Both teams were evenly matched early, finishing the first quarter tied at 14 points. Army held a slight edge in shooting efficiency, shooting 54.5% from the field and 66.7% from three-point range. The Mountain Hawks made more than half their shot attempts but were unable to capitalize on four attempts from beyond the arc.

The Black Knights scored efficiently to open the game, building an early five-point lead off back-to-back baskets from Tade. But both teams traded baskets, creating four lead changes for the remainder of the quarter. 

The Mountain Hawks scored all their first-quarter points in the paint, including a buzzer-beating reverse layup by Fandre off a pass from senior forward Meghan O’Brien to tie the game. The crowd erupted as Fandre celebrated with her teammates.

The energy carried into the second quarter, when the Mountain Hawks’ offense exploded on an 11-2 run. McQuillen led the charge with two layups. Fandre drained a triple and a free throw, and Albrecht added a three to extend Lehigh’s advantage. 

Army struggled offensively, making just one field goal in the first six minutes of the quarter. However, the Black Knights fought back. Following Lehigh’s run, Army outscored the Mountain Hawks 16-5 in the final four minutes of the quarter.

Hardy scored three layups, and sophomore forward Tya Smith crashed the glass hard for a tip-shot and added two free-throws. After Fiona Hastick, sophomore guard and forward, and Tade sunk triples, Army regained the lead, sending its bench and visiting crowd into a frenzy. 

By halftime, Army had flipped the game, holding a two-point lead.

“The message at halftime was we have to do us better, and we have to contain Trinity (Hardy),” Micir said. “Army’s a really good team. They can get downhill. I thought we made some really good defensive adjustments. We rebounded really well on the defensive end.”

Neither team backed down in the second half as physicality increased. Players dove for loose balls, battled for every rebound and applied heavy on-ball pressure. The Mountain Hawks forced multiple crucial shot clock violations, while Army forced errant passes and turnovers.

The defenses locked down the high-powered offenses, which combined for just 11 points in the first five minutes of the third quarter.

Lehigh’s depth eventually broke through this quarter.

While Hardy continued driving her way into the paint for layups, sophomore forward Whitney Lind scored six consecutive Lehigh points to regain the lead.

Sisselman, who had stepped up throughout the tournament, then delivered in key moments. She came off the bench with two minutes left in the quarter and immediately scored an and-one layup. She added another layup to maintain Lehigh’s two-possession lead, generating instant offense. 

Sisselman finished a perfect 4-4 from the field and 3-3 from the free throw line, totaling a game-changing 11 points.

“Remi has been our X-factor,” Micir said. “She brings rebounding, and she brings some size inside, and they weren’t willing to help. So, it was Remi time, and she pulled through.”

Sisselman credited Lehigh’s depth and a “next man up” mentality as key factors in her performance.

“We take pride in our depth,” Sisselman said. “That’s something that is really, really unique with this team. I was ready for when my name was gonna be called. I knew it would be called, and I knew all the little things at both ends that I had to do to help this team at this Patriot League Tournament.”

In the fourth quarter, Lehigh pulled away. A late 10-0 run pushed the Mountain Hawks’ lead to double digits. They sank their free throws when Army began intentionally fouling and retained the lead until the final buzzer. The team finished the game shooting 15-17 from the free-throw line.

Following the game, Albrecht, McQuillen and Stemmer were named Patriot League All-Tournament players. Albrecht was also named the Patriot League Tournament MVP.

The win marked Albrecht’s second Patriot League Title. As a first-year, she was part of Lehigh’s 2020-21 championship team that defeated Boston University in the title game to advance to March Madness.

McQuillen said the team’s ability to grow from tough losses helped it rebuild into a championship squad.

“The biggest thing was not letting losses sidetrack us from what we wanted to accomplish,” McQuillen said. “I took a lot of those losses as lessons learned, and the common denominator was us not doing us to the best of our capability. Learning from that and knowing how good we are when we do what we do, we’re unstoppable.”

Looking ahead, the Mountain Hawks will square off against a familiar foe.

Lehigh will play Duke in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, looking to repeat history from 13 years ago, when Lehigh’s men’s team pulled off a stunning March Madness upset.