{"id":41047,"date":"2013-01-20T08:13:22","date_gmt":"2013-01-20T13:13:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=41047"},"modified":"2013-01-20T08:13:22","modified_gmt":"2013-01-20T13:13:22","slug":"lehigh-starts-fast-to-handle-raiders-70-62","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=41047","title":{"rendered":"Lehigh Starts Fast to Handle Raiders, 70-62"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paige Kriftcher tallied a team-high 13 points for Colgate, but the Raiders dropped a 70-62 decision to Lehigh Saturday afternoon. (Photo by Bob Cornell)<\/em><\/p>\n

By John Painter<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"ColgateD7676\"<\/a>(Hamilton, NY \u2013 Jan. 19, 2013) \u00a0Just when Colgate was counting on familiar surroundings to jump-start its Patriot League fortunes, Lehigh put on a size and shooting display en route to a 70-62 conference win here Saturday.<\/p>\n

The Raiders suffered their second home loss of the season \u2013 and first since theNovember opener \u2013 when Lehigh opened an early lead and didn\u2019t let up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was surprised about our first five or six minutes of basketball, about our unforced turnovers in those first five or six minutes,\u201d Colgate head coach Nicci Hays Fort said. \u201cInitially we had some great defensive rotations, but then one person would forget and they would get an easy shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Lehigh was making Colgate pay for just the tiniest of lapses. The Mountain Hawks shot 59 percent from the field in the first half and outrebounded Colgate 22-8 in those opening 20 minutes, building a 38-22 advantage that was never challenged.<\/p>\n

Junior guard Hilary Weaver and freshman forward Kerry Kinek paced the winners with 18 points apiece, with Weaver connecting on 5-of-7 attempts from 3-point distance after a 4-of-4 first half. Weaver entered the game having made just 10 threes all season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey made a lot of shots, and we struggle when that happens and we can\u2019t get out in transition,\u201d Hays Fort said. \u201cThey took us out of what we wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hays Fort also noted the absence of center Lulu Brase, out for the rest of the season with a knee injury. Brase\u2019s presence would have been welcomed Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are a big team and it would have helped to have Lulu in there,\u201d Hays Fort said. \u201cThe Kinek kid, there\u2019s a reason she\u2019s been freshman of the week so many times (three). She\u2019s a really good player and she made some tough shots. But it would have been nice to have Lulu back today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0Defensive Out of the Break<\/strong><\/p>\n

Colgate held Lehigh scoreless for more than five minutes to begin the second half, slicing the lead nearly in half to 38-29. Mariah Jones converted a layup to start, and then Catherine Lewis and Kelly Reid added buckets during the 7-0 run.<\/p>\n

But the visitors regained control and pushed the margin to as many as 19 points on three different occasions before Colgate managed another late flurry to trim the final margin back into single digits.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got it to nine and it\u2019s like we took a deep breath,\u201d Hays Fort said. \u201cI was like, \u2018Whoa, guys, we\u2019re still getting our tails kicked.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cBut maybe it\u2019s still a case of changing the culture, about expecting to win but then going out and earning it. Expect to win but earn the right to win, the right to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Raiders, now 6-11 overall and 0-3 in Patriot League play, had four players in double figures led by Paige Kriftcher. The freshman scored a season-high 13 points, while Lewis added 12, Reid 11 and Jhazmine Lynch 10 for her sixth straight game in double figures.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just trying to contribute in whatever way I can, whether it\u2019s defense or offense, just whatever the team needs,\u201d Kriftcher said. \u201cHowever I can help is what I want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freshman Making Inroads<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kriftcher played a season-high 21 minutes and was 4-of-10 from the field, including 2-of-6 from downtown. The Long Island freshman leads the team in 3-point percentage at 36.8, but she also converted a pair of driving bank-shots Saturday that can only add to her arsenal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to work on that more at practice,\u201d she said. \u201cGoing against Jhazmine and Mariah in practice is huge because there are very few guards in the Patriot League who are as quick and athletic as them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rebounding went Lehigh\u2019s way by a 42-26 margin, matching Colgate\u2019s largest deficit of the season from the loss at Connecticut. The Mountain Hawks finished at 49 percent (28-of-57) from the field to Colgate\u2019s 38 percent (21-of-55).<\/p>\n

The Raiders were just 4-of-21 from the 3-point stripe but did make 16 of their 19 free throw attempts. Colgate is up to 71.5 percent from the line for the season.<\/p>\n

Individually, Lynch led the Raiders in three categories \u2013 rebounds (five), assists (four) and steals (three).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just need to keep learning from games like today,\u201d Kriftcher said. \u201cWe showed we can really pick it up at any time and had a great second half. We just need to do it for it all 40 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we showed we have the potential to play great. We just need to start with that energy in the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lehigh, 10-8 and 2-1, also had 10 points from Katie O\u2019Reilly.<\/p>\n

Colgate\u2019s next chance comes Wednesday at Army in a 7 p.m. start. The Black Knights are 13-4 overall and 2-0 in league play heading into Sunday\u2019s home showdown against Navy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have any easy ones left, but we\u2019re getting there \u2013 slowly but surely,\u201d Hays Fort said.<\/p>\n

Lehigh 70, Colgate 62<\/p>\n

Lehigh (10-8, 2-1):\u00a0Hilary Weaver 18, Lindsay Hoskins 9, Katie O\u2019Reilly 10, Becky Guman 3, Kerry Kinek 18, Alexandra 2, Sarah Williams 6, Elizabeth Sharlow 4.\u00a0Totals:\u00a028-8-70.<\/p>\n

Colgate (6-11, 0-3):\u00a0Lauryn Kobiela 6, Mariah Jones 6, Catherine Lewis 12, Kelly Reid 11, Jhazmine Lynch 10, Paige Kriftcher 13, Josie Stockill 2, Carole Harris 2.\u00a0Totals:\u00a021-16-62.<\/p>\n

3-Point Field Goals:\u00a0Lehigh 6 (Weaver 5, Guman); Colgate 4 (Lewis 2, Kriftcher 2).<\/p>\n

Halftime:\u00a0Lehigh 38-22.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paige Kriftcher tallied a team-high 13 points for Colgate, but the Raiders dropped a 70-62 decision to Lehigh Saturday afternoon. (Photo by Bob Cornell) By John Painter (Hamilton, NY \u2013 Jan. 19, 2013) \u00a0Just when Colgate was counting on familiar surroundings to jump-start its Patriot League fortunes, Lehigh put on a size and shooting display […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41047\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}