Jan. 12, 2008

Box Score

WASHINGTON - The American University women's basketball team fell behind by double-digit points for the sixth contest in a row and fell to Patriot League foe Lehigh, 55-37, in the conference opener on Saturday at Bender Arena.

AU (6-10, 0-1 PL) held a 3-2 lead to open the game when Stephanie N'Garsanet completed an old-fashioned three-point play. Lehigh responded with a 6-0 run to open up a 9-3 deficit that culminated with a Kaela Pearce jumper with 11:59 left in the half. The Eagles got within striking distance, cutting the Mountain Hawks lead to 11-9 on a pair of Michelle Kirk free throws, but Lehigh again put together a 9-0 run to end the half and take a 20-9 lead into the intermission.

Lehigh (9-7, 1-0 PL) continued its dominance in the second half, holding AU to just 28.6 percent shooting from the floor, and extending its lead to 17 with 11:53 left in regulation when Alex Ross hit a trey to put the Mountain Hawks up 31-14. Lehigh led by as many as 24 points late in the game courtesy of a pair of Tricia Smith free throws to give the Mountain Hawks a 52-28, as they coasted to earn the 55-37 win.

AU out-rebounded its opponent for the sixth time in seven games, holding a 41-34 edge, but could not get things going on the offensive side, shooting just 21.6 percent for the game. Pam Stanfield and Ashley Yencho each tallied seven points in the defeat for the Eagles, while Maggie Smith-Davidson grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.

Three Mountain Hawks finished in double-digits. Melissa Rich scored 10 points, Pearce finished with 10 points and Ross had a game-high 11 points off the bench in the win.

American will continue its PL portion of the schedule on Wednesday, Jan. 16 at 7 p.m. as they host Bucknell at Bender Arena.