Women's College Basketball
Lehigh University 58, Rider University 41
14th Lehigh Christmas City Classic Tournament
BETHLEHEM, Pa.—A Christmas miracle in the city of Bethlehem was in the grasp of the Broncs, for the first 21 minutes as the Rider University women's basketball team played the Lehigh Mountain Hawks tough, before losing Wednesday night.
“This was a game we had a chance to win,” said head coach Lynn Milligan. “You hold a team like Lehigh to 58 points on their home floor that gives you a chance to win the game. I think we bailed them out by putting them on the foul line 26 times.”
Sophomore Shereen Lightbourne (Elmsford, N.Y./Alexander Hamilton) led Rider's offensive effort with 13 points in the semifinal game of the 14th Lehigh Christmas City Classic at Stabler Arena.
“Shey is our perimeter threat,” Milligan said. “We are going to continue to go to her and she wants that role. I'm going to keep calling her number.”
Lehigh (8-5) jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first 2:21 before Rider (0-10) rebounded with an 11-5 run, five points by Lightbourne and four points by sophomore Dior Brown (Upper Darby, Pa./Upper Darby), tying the game at 11 with 10:49 left in the opening half. D. Brown finished with six points and seven rebounds.
Lightbourne's conventional three-point play broke a 5-0 Lehigh run and brought the Broncs within 16-14 with 6:53 left before intermission. The Mountain Hawks responded with an 8-0 run, opening up their biggest lead of the half 24-14 with 5:05 left.
Four free throws by red-shirt sophomore Alyssa Parsons (Ivyland, Pa./Archbishop Wood) got Rider to within five (25-20). Parsons, who saw her first game action in exactly a month after missing five straight games with a back injury, finished with eight points.
Lehigh, the two-time defending Patriot League champions, led 27-20 at the half.
Lightbourne hit a runner in the lane to cut the Lehigh lead down to five (27-22) one minute into the second half but that was as close as Rider would get as the Mountain Hawks used a 7-0 run to pull away.
Lightbourne, who made her fifth start in a row and sixth of the season, finished with her third double-digit scoring effort in the last four games.
Lehigh held Rider without a field goal for over six minutes midway through the second half as part of a 10-1 run, opening up a 46-31 lead with 6:13 left.
Each team had 42 rebounds with Lehigh holding an 18-17 advantage on the offensive glass. Freshman MyNeshia McKenzie (Springfield, Pa./Springfield (Delco)) led the Broncs with 12 rebounds.
The teams combined for 56 turnovers with Rider committing 33. “Our turnovers are a huge issue,” Milligan said. “We are playing young and indecisive. With some of the players that we've had out due to injury, we are just getting them back and our chemistry is a little off right now and you saw some of that tonight.”
The Broncs have lost 10 straight and 14 in a row dating back to last season. The loss ties the Rider record of 14 straight defeats set during the 2006-07 season.
Former East Coast Conference rivals, Lehigh has defeated Rider 19 of the 27 games in the series. Rider had won five of six over the Mountain Hawks entering play including the last meeting, 60-53 in Alumni Gym on February 25, 1997, 5,056 days ago. In that game, current Associate Head coach Pam Durkin scored a 'double-double' of 15 points and 14 rebounds as a Rider senior.
Lehigh has made back to back NCAA Championship tournament appearances as winners of the Patriot League and the Mountain Hawks are coming off a 29 win season in 2009-10.
“I'm happy with the defensive effort,” Milligan said. “What it comes down to is that defense is going to win us ball games, especially when we are struggling on the offensive end. Our main three-point threat wasn't available tonight due to injury."
Junior Ali Heller (Boca Raton, Fla./St. Andrews) missed the game after suffering a concussion at La Salle on December 19. Heller ranks 26th in the nation in three-point field goal percentage.
The game was the 100th in the career of Bronc head coach Lynn Milligan.
Winners of seven straight, Lehigh advances to the championship game at 7:30pm on Thursday evening against Mississippi State which defeated the University at Buffalo, 72-58 in the opener. The Mountain Hawks advance to the finals of their tournament for the sixth straight season. Rider will face the Bulls of the University at Buffalo at 5pm in the consolation game.
“Buffalo is a solid ball club,” said Milligan. “They are a very good transition team and have some good shooters. Defensively they are going to pressure us more than Lehigh did so we are going to have to work on the turnovers pretty quickly.”
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