Oertner Helps Guide Women’s Basketball Past Lehigh

Saturday, February 27

Bethlehem, Pa.

7:30 PM

Army West Point

25-2, 16-1PL

Lehigh

17-11, 10-7

Army West Point

Lehigh

Oertner Helps Guide Women’s Basketball Past Lehigh

February 27, 2016 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Army West Point women's basketball team picked up its 15th straight win and matched a program record with 25 victories after defeating Lehigh, 69-49, on Saturday night at Stabler Arena.

Army improves to 25-2 overall and 16-1 in the Patriot League, while Lehigh drops to 17-11 and 10-7.

Senior Kelsey Minato scored a game-high 23 points and made five three-pointers to reach 87 triples for the season to pass her own team single-season record of 84 that she set last year. She also tallied seven assists and five steals. Classmate Aimee Oertner, playing just 20 miles from her hometown of Slatington, Pa., finished with 16 points, eight boards, five assists and three blocks.

Sophomore Daizjah Morris and freshman Madison Hovren each added nine points off the bench, while Hovren also collected a career-high-tying seven rebounds. Senior Brianna Johnson totaled eight points on 3-of-6 shooting.

Lexi Martins led Lehigh with an 18-point, 10-rebound double-double and Kerry Kinek also finished in double figures with 11 points.

Army opened the game on an 8-2 run that included six points from Oertner, but Lehigh cut its deficit back to three after three straight points from Martins to move the score to 8-5 by the first quarter's 3:58 mark.

The Black Knights went on to build six points advantages of 11-5, 13-7 and 16-10 before finishing the period on a 5-2 run. Minato knocked in a three-pointer at the first quarter's 1:30 mark and Hovren scored on a lay-up with 54 seconds remaining in the opening frame.

Johnson hit a pair of triples and netted eight of Army's first 10 points in the second quarter, as the visitors started the period on a 10-0 run that boosted the lead to 17, 31-14, 3:13 into the frame.

The Mountain Hawks scored the next six points during the ensuing 1:27 to trim their deficit back to 11 points, 31-20, before Morris buried a corner three to make the score 34-20 with 4:24 to play until halftime.

The Black Knights closed the half by outscoring the hosts, 9-4, with Minato contributing four points, Oertner adding a pair, and Morris sinking a three-pointer with two seconds before the halftime whistle to send Army into the break with a 43-24 advantage.

Martins went 1-of-2 from the free-throw line to cap a 14-4 Lehigh run that spanned the first 4:53 of the second half and brought Mountain Hawks back to within single digits, 47-38.

Minato quieted the scoring stretch with consecutive three-pointers, coming at the 4:56 and 4:15 marks of the third frame, to move Army back out to a 15-point lead. Minato's back-to-back threes began a 12-3 run for the Black Knights that extended the margin to 18 points, 59-41, by the conclusion of the third period.

Army extended the 12-3 scoring run to 17-3, after beginning the fourth quarter with three points from Minato and two from sophomore Aliyah Murray. Morris converted her third three-pointer of the evening to move the visitors out to a 25-point advantage, 69-44, with 6:52 left. Lehigh scored the last five points to finish the contest to pull to a 20-point deficit.

Army finishes the regular season with a contest at Boston University on Wednesday, March 2 at 7 p.m.

GAME NOTES: Army tied a team record with 25 wins, matching the totals of the 2013-14 and 1983-84 seasons … Minato finished with 23 points to move to 2,445 for her career and is 18 points shy of passing Molly Creamer's Patriot League scoring record of 2,462 points … Minato topped her own single-season three-point mark, moving her season total to 87 … Oertner extended her career-best double-digit scoring streak to eight games … with the victory, Army's Class of 2016 collected its 95th career win to become the Patriot League's leader for the most total wins over a four-year period, passing Lehigh's Class of 2011 (94 wins) … the Black Knights even the all-time series with the Mountain Hawks, 30-30.