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| Cecily Carl (#44) led AU with 14 points & 12 boards |
From our friends at American Athletics...
American Unable to Get Past Lehigh in PL Action
A fourth-quarter rally fell short, as the American University women's basketball team dropped a 61-52 decision to Lehigh Saturday afternoon at Bender Arena.
Freshman Cecily Carl registered her first career double-double, finishing with 14 points and 12 rebounds, while senior Ari Booth added 12 points. Meanwhile, freshman Michaela Nieuwenhuizen came off the bench to score a career-high eight points.
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| Michaela Nieuwenhuizen (#13) scored a career-high 8 points |
Quinci Mann led the Mountain Hawks with 16 points, while Kerry Kinek and Bernadette Devaney added 12 and 11 points, respectively.
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| Lehigh's Quinci Mann led all scorers with 16 points |
Lehigh (15-7, 8-3 PL) hit a three-pointer on its first possession of the game and remained on top for the remainder of the first half. The Mountain Hawks led by as many as eight points after their fourth three-pointer of the opening period before Nieuwenhuizen scored the final basket of the quarter to cut the margin to 16-10.
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| Lexi Martins (#12) led all players with 13 rebounds |
In the second period, American (5-17, 3-8) was unable to get any closer than three points and Lehigh took a 27-23 advantage into the intermission.
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| Ari Booth (#32) scored 12 points |
The Mountain Hawks opened the third period on a 10-2 run to push the margin to double digits before going into the final stanza with a 47-33 advantage, their largest lead of the game.
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| Kaitlyn Lewis (#3) added 7 points |
American fought back in the fourth quarter, opening the period on a 14-3 run to cut its deficit to 50-47 with just over five minutes remaining. However, Lehigh scored seven straight points to regain a double-digit advantage to secure the game, as the Eagles missed 10 of their final 12 shots.
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| Freshman Elina Koskimies (#23) |
"I thought it was a great effort to get back in the game after being down double digits," said American head coach Megan Gebbia. "I'm proud of the fact that we were able to do that and put pressure on [Lehigh]. We just went cold. Everything we shot in the last five minutes seemed to not go in, and that killed us down the stretch."
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| Who wants a free t-shirt? |
The Eagles had a slight 40-39 advantage on the boards against Lehigh, the top rebounding team in the Patriot League. However, American gave up nine three-pointer by Lehigh, while knocking just two shots from long range. The Eagles were also 0-of-3 from the foul line, while the Mountain Hawks were 10-of-20 from the charity stripe.
"I'm happy to watch the progression with our team, because I really feel like we're getting better," said Gebbia.
The Eagles are back at home on Wednesday, February 10, when they host Boston University in a 7 PM contest.
Click here for today's box score.
