Friday, December 05, 2008

BULLDOGS DROP 68-55 ROAD DECISION TO LEHIGH FRIDAY NIGHT

Boxscore

BETHLEHEM, Penn. - Behind the second double-double of the season from junior Kelsey O'Keefe (Warren, Mass.), the Bryant University women's basketball team fought hard, but couldn't overcome a powerful Lehigh University side, falling, 68-55, Friday night at Stabler Arena.

The Bulldogs (3-5) allowed the home side to get off to a 6-0 start before sophomore Siamone Bennett (Newburgh, N.Y.) got Bryant back to within one, 6-5, eventually scoring the Bulldogs' first seven points of the evening.

Lehigh (6-2) would double Bryant's points, 14-7, at the 12:27 mark before a 19-11 score held for 4:16 of the frame. From there, the Mountain Hawks would outscore the Bulldogs, 15-11, to finish the half and send the visitors into the locker room down, 34-22.

Bryant couldn't contain an aggressive Mountain Hawks offense that shot 45.5 percent in the first frame to the Bulldogs' 31.3, and struggled again from a turnover perspective, giving the ball away 14 times. Bennett's seven points paced the Bulldogs at intermission, while junior Kelsey O'Keefe (Warren, Mass.) had a frame-high eight boards.

Out of the break, Bryant cut the home team's lead to nine, 38-29, on junior Courtney Schermerhorn (Lowell, Mass.)'s fifth point of the half, a bucket at 17:22. But Lehigh pushed its lead back to 49-35 with Bryant suffering a nearly four-minute scoring drought and getting into some early foul trouble.

The Bulldogs would cut it to 11 when junior Jaime Campbell (Springfield, Mass.) completed back-to-back jumpers from the key with 3:20 showing on the clock to narrow the lead to 61-50 in the host's favor, and would steal an inbound pass with under a minute to play for a basket from senior Cara Johnson (Endicott, N.Y.) to cut their deficit to 64-54.

But the surge would be too late, as the Bulldogs would eventually fall to the Mountain Hawks, 68-55.

Bryant would be outscored by just one in the second frame, 34-33, and shoot 32.8 percent from the floor on the day, limiting its second-half turnovers to 10. The Mountain Hawks got 46.6 percent shooting from the hardwood, going 4-for-11 from three-point range.

The Bulldogs were near-perfect from the line on the contest, hitting 8-of-9 to Lehigh's 10-for-16 mark.

O'Keefe's 11 points and 10 boards earned her the second double-double of the season, while Bennett collected 11 points and nine rebounds for a near double-double of her own. O'Keefe's 10 off the glass were a game high, while the 11 points from the pair paced Bryant. Lehigh was led by a game-high 17 points from Alex Ross, who went 3-for-7 from downtown.

Bryant sticks around eastern Pennsylvania until Sunday, when they will face off against another Patriot League opponent in Lafayette College. Tipoff is 1 p.m.