Women’s Basketball Edges Lehigh in League Opener

Friday, December 30

Bethlehem, Pa.

7 PM

Army West Point

10-2, 1-0PL

Lehigh

5-7, 0-1PL

ARMY

Lehigh

Women’s Basketball Edges Lehigh in League Opener

December 30, 2016 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Junior Daizjah Morris and sophomore Madison Hovren each made two free throws in the final 20 seconds to help the Army women's basketball team grab a 75-71 victory over Lehigh in the Patriot League opener for both teams on Friday evening at Stabler Arena.

Army defeats Lehigh for the fourth time in a row and improves to 10-2 overall and 1-0 in the Patriot League, while Lehigh falls to 5-7 and 0-1.

Hovren led all scorers with a career-high 28 points and 13 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season. Hovren went a perfect 12-for-12 from the free-throw line, as the Black Knights shot 89.5 percent (17-of-19) at the stripe. Junior Janae McNeal totaled 11 points and eight rebounds and classmate Aliyah Murray finished with nine points and eight boards, as the visitors ended the game with a 43-31 advantage on the glass.

Daizjah Morris tallied nine points and classmate Destinee Morris scored six points off the bench.

Bernadette Devaney and Quinci Mann each scored 13 points to lead the Mountain Hawks.

ARMY HIGHLIGHTS AND GAME NOTES

Army improves to 32-30 all-time versus Lehigh.
Army moves to 18-9 in Patriot League openers since the conference started in 1990-91.
The Black Knights are now 10-1 in league openers under 11th-year head coach Dave Magarity and are 5-4 when starting the conference slate against Lehigh.
Friday's win gave Army at least 10 wins in its first 12 games for the second year in a row, and for the eighth time in program history.
Hovren posted her seventh double-double of the year with a career-high 28 points and 13 boards.
Senior Dani Failor scored four points in her season debut after missing the first 11 games due to injury.

KEY MOMENTS

Hovren hit a pair of free throws to knot the score at 68-68 with 1:08 left in the fourth quarter before Murray converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 41 ticks left to give the Cadets a 71-68 lead. Daizjah Morris knocked in two free throws to boost Army's advantage to 73-68, but Lehigh closed the gap to two points, 73-71, with 13 seconds remaining. Hovren buried two foul shots two seconds later to seal the win.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Army opened the game on an 8-2 run that was capped by a Failor lay-in at the 4:52 mark of the first quarter.
Lehigh answered with a 9-2 run over the next 2:33, which gave the hosts a 12-11 advantage with 2:19 remaining in the first before the Mountain Hawks ended the period with a 13-12 edge.
Lehigh moved out to a 16-12 lead early in the second frame, but Army netted the next 12 points to control a 24-16 advantage with 4:55 left in the half.
Hovren led the Cadets with six points during the 12-0 run.
Mann hit a jumper for the Mountain Hawks at the 3:08 mark of the second quarter to finish an 8-0 run and force a 24-24 tie.
Both teams scored four points in the final 2:49 of the quarter and entered the half tied, 28-28.
The third quarter saw three ties, but Lehigh owned a three-point lead, 46-43, heading into the fourth period.
Hovren made two free throws to close a 7-4 run and force a 50-50 tie early in the fourth quarter before Army extended the run to 14-4 with a three-pointer by Destinee Morris with 7:11 left that gave the visitors a 57-50 advantage.
Mann made a jumper with 2:27 left in the game to give Lehigh back the lead, 64-63, and Camryn Burr made jumpers to move the Mountain Hawks to leads of 66-64 and 68-66 with 1:53 and 1:26 left, respectively.
Hovren sank two free throws with 1:08 left to tie the game at 68-68 before Army outscored Lehigh, 7-3, over the final 41 seconds to close out the win.