Women’s Basketball Drops Tough Road Battle In Division I Debut At Lehigh, 60-43

BETHLEHEM, Penn. (November 7, 2022)- The Stonehill College women’s basketball team kicked off their inaugural Division I season with a non-conference matchup at Lehigh University but fell to the Mountain Hawks, 60-43 Monday evening at the Stabler Arena.

leaders

stone hill

Mia KellySenior Guard: 11 points (4-14, 3-6 3pt), five rebounds, and two steals

Emily BramantiSenior Guard: 11 points (4-14, 3-10 3pt), five rebounds, and four assists

Maddie LoderGraduate Guard: 10 points (2-10, 1-6 3pt), three rebounds, and one steal

Sophie Glidden5th Year Forward: 8 points (4-10), 12 rebounds, and three steals

Maureen StapletonSophomore Forward: 10 rebounds and two assists

Lehigh

Frannie HottingerSenior Guard: 21 points (9-23, 1-5 3pt), 18 rebounds, and four steals

MacKenzie KramerJunior Guard: 13 points (4-15, 3-9 3pt), three rebounds, and one steal

Mia Kelly was one of three Skyhawks who scored in double figures (Photo Credit: Katie McNulty).

How It Happened

  • Kelly opened up the scoring for the Skyhawks as she netted the first Division I basket in program history when Glidden kicked the ball out from the paint to an open Kelly on the left side of the three-point line.
  • Both sides played a hard fought back and forth opening quarter and tied at eight with 6:40 to go, Glidden knocked down a jumper in the paint for a 10-8 Skyhawks advantage. However, Lehigh grabbed their largest lead of the frame (17-12) with a 9-2 run but Stonehill and Glidden responded when the 5th-year forward hit another jumper which made it a 17-14 ballgame.
  • As the second quarter got underway, Kelly came up with another big-time three in front of the Lehigh bench that pulled Stonehill within one (18-17). Despite the close deficit, the Mountain Hawks burst ahead on a 10-1 run (28-18) for their first double-digit lead before the Purple and White called timeout.
  • Coming out of the timeout, Stonehill’s defense held strong as Lehigh went scoreless for the next four minutes as the squad forced three-straight misses. Lehigh ultimately closed the half on a 5-0 run and headed into the half up 33-18.
  • 15 seconds into the third, Kelly started the squad off with a three-pointer off a nice dish from Jada Thornton which made it a 33-21 game. After back-to-back jumpers from Lehigh, Bramanti hit a three which made it 38-24 with 8:44 left in the quarter. Despite Bramnati’s jumper, the Mountain Hawks closed out the third quarter on a 7-3 run which made it 45-27.
  • The Skyhawks opened the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run spearheaded by a three-pointer from Loder and jumpers from Bramanti and Glidden which forced Lehigh to call a time-out as their lead was trimmed to 11 (45-34). Despite the moment, Lehigh responded back with an 8-5 run which made it 53-39.
  • Stonehill tried to chip away after Loder drove right to the hoop through the defense and made it 53-41 but the Mountain Hawks ended held off any Stonehill momentum as they finished off the game on a 7-2 run for the 60-43 win.

Noteworthy

  • Tonight’s game was the program’s first-ever match-up with Lehigh University.
  • For the second straight season-opening game, Kelly has recorded at least 10 points. It is her 11th career game scoring double-figures.
  • Tonight marked Loder’s Stonehill debut as the graduate guard transferred over from George Washington University.
  • Coming into today’s game, Kramer was sixth in the nation in three-point percentage at 40.3 percent but the Skyhawks defenders held her to just 33.3 percent. She only did so in 15 games last year.
  • Glidden’s 12 rebounds are just one off her career-high of 13 rebounds and her seventh game overall with 10 or more rebounds.

Trish Time

“I like the way our kids competed,” said Stonehill women’s basketball head coach, Trisha Brown. “We went down where we could have folded and we had some really good hustle plays to get momentum back in the second half. I liked how we started, we started really strong, with some really good individual performances. I thought Mia Kelly had a great game. Defensively, her matchup was, is an incredible scorer and she kept her to 13 points, which was a bright spot. I thought she was making hustle plays on the offensive end as well. I think Glidden did a great job in the post for us so, certainly some bright spots of the game, but we, as we know, we’ve got to put a complete game together. But again, I think some of the takeaways that we talked about in the locker room we were held a really good scoring team to 60 points. And, you know, our goal is 59 and below, so I was pretty happy with that. But now, it’s not going to get easier going to Providence. Our mindset and, and we’ ve talked about this with a tough non-conference schedule was about getting better. We had our first real game, o ur first competition, so now we’ve got to watch a lot of film. Then really just focus on those controls and the fixes that we need to make this week.

up next

Stonehill wraps up their road trip traveling to Providence College on Friday, November 11 at 7 pm Lehigh heads out on the road to South Dakota State on Friday, November 11 at 8 pm

For the latest on Stonehill Athletics, follow the Skyhawks via social media on Twitter, Facebook other Instagram. Fans cn also download the Stonehill Skyhawks “Front Row” mobile app, powered by PrestoSports, on iTunes and the Android Market.

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