Guru’s WBB March Madness - II: Lehigh Falls to West Virginia in NCAA First Round, 77-53

 

By Cathy Bongiovi 

 

The 13^th-seeded Lehigh Mountain Hawks (10-6) concluded their season on Sunday evening with a 77-53 loss to No. 4 West Virginia (22-6) in first round action of the NCAA Tournament at Bill Greehy Arena in San Antonio, Texas.

 

West Virginia will face against No. 5 seed Georgia Tech (16-8) in second round action on Tuesday.

 The Yellow Jackets defeated No. 12 seed Stephen F. Austin, 54-52 in overtime.

 

“I give West Virginia a lot of credit. I thought they came out, particularly in the second half, and really established themselves on the defensive end,” said Lehigh coach Sue Troyan.

 

“They kind of took us out of our offensive flow, but I’m super proud of our kids how they competed and how they represented Lehigh for 40 minutes.”

 

Making their fourth NCAA Tournament appearance overall and their first since 2010, the Patriot League champions had three players in double-figure scoring. 

Junior forward Emma Grothaus led with 14 points and a team-high seven rebounds. 

 

“We’re a really young team, and we like to get out and play fast and shoot the ball,” Grothaus said. 

 

“I thought it meant a lot for us to compete and be physical with a team like that, being so young.”

 

Sophomore guard Frannie Hottinger followed with 12 points, and junior guard Megan Walker added 11.

 

Overall, Lehigh shot 31 percent from the field (19-62), compared to WVU’s 55 percent (30-55).  The Mountaineers won the rebounding battle, 40-30.  

 

For West Virginia, redshirt senior guard Kysre Gondrezick was the top scorer with 26 points, 11 of which came in the first half. 

 

Sophomore guard Kirsten Deans followed with 19 points, and sophomore forward Esmery Martinez had a double-double of 16 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

 

In the first quarter, Lehigh jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead. WVU came back, and the teams traded buckets til the end of the stanza.  West Virginia led by two, 15-13.

 

The Mountaineers opened the second quarter with an 8-2 run to take an eight-point advantage, 23-15.  Three consecutive treys brought Lehigh back to within two, 26-24. West Virginia ended the quarter with a 10-0 run to take a 36-26 edge into the locker room at halftime.

 

In the third quarter, WVU turned up the heat to extend its double-digit lead.  The Mountaineers closed the stanza with a 16-0 run to take a 26-point lead, 65-39. 

 

WVU continued to build its lead to as many as 25 points in the fourth quarter.

 

“I think we ran out of gas there. 

“They had that run at the end of the second quarter and the end of the third quarter as well, kind of the difference makers in the game,” Troyan said.  

 

“I thought our kids honestly competed really hard.”

 

Troyan, who will lose only two seniors next year, will utilize her team’s experiences over the last two weeks to propel them into next year.  

 

“It’s been 11 years since we’ve been here (at the NCAA Tournament).

“ It was really a big step of growth for our program, winning the league championship, having our kids which is a pretty young team, experience an NCAA tournament, and we have almost everybody coming back next year. 

 

“This was a really important experience in terms of their development going into next year.”