March 8, 2008
Patriot League Women's Basketball Release - Tournament Quarterfinals and Semifinals 
2008 Patriot League Women's Basketball Championship Page
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Quarterfinal #4
Lehigh Avenges Two Losses to Lafayette During the Regular Season with a 62-51 Victory
Box Score
WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) - Lehigh advanced to the Patriot League Tournament Semifinals with a 62-51 victory over rival Lafayette in the final quarterfinal on Saturday at Army's Christl Arena.
Lehigh (18-12, 9-5 PL) held a 35-27 advantage over Lafayette (14-16, 6-8 PL) heading into the locker room at halftime. The Mountain Hawks held the lead over the entire course of the first half.
The closest Lafayette would get in the second half came at the 8:45 mark on a jumper by junior Emily Garner that made it a 45-43 game.
Sophomore Alex Ross and Erica Prosser each earned game-high scoring honors with 16 points a piece for the Brown and White. Junior Tricia Smith added 14 points and a team-high nine boards. Smith went 7-for-8 from the line, while Ross was a perfect 5-for-5.
Senior Vanessa Van De Venter led the Leopards with 15 points and six rebounds. Junior Jessica Spicer also reached double-figure scoring with 10 points.
Third-seeded Lehigh will play No. 2 Holy Cross in the second semifinal on Sunday, in a game scheduled to start at 4 p.m.
Game Notes
- The start of the game was delayed for 30 minutes due to a power outage at West Point and in the surrounding towns. As a result the second semifinal on Sunday will be pushed back to 4 p.m.
- After losing to Lafayette twice during the regular season, Lehigh was able to earn the win in the tourney.
- Lehigh will be making its seventh appearance in the Patriot League Tournament Semifinals.
- Saturday was the 71st meeting between the two archrivals. Lafayette still holds the advantage in the all-time series, 40-31, but Lehigh went ahead 3-2 in tournament games.
- Lafayette senior Vanessa Van De Venter ends her career ranked 24th all-time in Patriot League history in scoring (1,381) and tied for 27th in rebounds (639).
Quarterfinal #3
Fast Second Half Start Keys Holy Cross to 67-53 Win Over Navy
Box Score
WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) - Second-seeded Holy Cross secured a place in the Patriot League Women's Basketball Tournament semifinal round by way of a 67-53 victory over No. 7 Navy in Saturday's third quarterfinal game at Christl Arena.
Holy Cross led 28-24 at the half and the Crusaders went on to score the first 12 of the first 14 points of the second half to jump out in front, 38-26, with 15:03 to play in the game. The Crusaders, who cruised in front by as many as 21 points with six minutes to go, held at least a 10-point margin from there.
Kathy Gruzynski scored half of her team-high 16 points in the first 3:29 of the second half to key the Crusaders. Sophomore Briana McFadden and classmate Bethany O'Dell chipped in with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Gruzynski and freshman Elizabeth Campbell each pulled down a team-high five rebounds. Senior guard Laura Aloisi dished out seven assists.
Freshman center Cassie Consedine paced all players with 18 points to go with three blocks and five rebounds. Classmate Angela Myers led all players with 11 caroms, as the Mids out-rebounded Holy Cross, 36-33.
The Crusaders will face the winner of Saturday's final quarterfinal contest, featuring No. 3 Lehigh versus No. 6 Lafayette. One semifinal match-up has already been set, as No. 1 American will face No. 5 Bucknell on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.
Game Notes
- Holy Cross improves to 36-6 in Patriot League Tournament games.
- The Crusaders have advanced to the semifinal round of the tournament 16 times, missing the next round only once in League history (2004).
- Holy Cross defeated Navy three times during the 2007-08 campaign.
- Holy Cross senior Laura Aloisi moved to seventh on the Patriot League's all-time assists chart, now with 439 in her career.
Quarterfinal #2
Brown's Bucket Lifts Bucknell Over Army, 50-47, In Overtime
Box Score
WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) - Senior guard Amanda Brown's three-pointer with two seconds remaining in overtime led to a 50-47 win over Army in the second quarterfinal game of the 2008 Patriot League Women's Basketball Tournament on Saturday afternoon at Christl Arena.
Army senior guard Cara Enright's three-pointer with five seconds remaining in regulation tied the score at 39-39 and sent the game into overtime.
With 10 seconds to play in overtime, Army's Alex McGuire went to the free throw line. The junior guard made the first and missed the second, tying the game at 47-47.
Brown then dribbled up the right side of the court and came up big with the game-winner from the right wing. Army inbounded the ball to junior forward Megan Evans, but her desperation heave fell well short.
Brown paced Bucknell in the scoring column with 19 points, while senior guard Kesha Champion added 13 points and seven rebounds. Hope Foster finished with a game-high 11 boards.
Enright led all players with a 25-point effort. She was also Army's leading rebounder with nine boards.
In the first half, Bucknell went ahead 15-8 with 7:46 on the clock, but Army closed the first half riding an 11-3 run to take a 19-17 lead at the break.
With the win, Bucknell (14-15, 8-6 PL) advances to the semifinal round and will face top-seeded American (17-12, 11-3 PL) on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. at Christl Arena.
Game Notes
- The Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal game between No. 4 Army and No. 5 Bucknell was delayed for 23 minutes in the first half due to complications from weather.
- Even with one overtime period, the Army-Bucknell combined points total of 97 came one off of the record for fewest points by two teams in Patriot League Tournament history.
- Bucknell moves on to the semifinals after being knocked out of last year's tournament in the first round as the No. 1 seed. This is the second-straight year Army has lost in the quarterfinals.
- Bucknell has played in the semifinal round of the Patriot League Tournament eight times previous to tomorrow's contest.
- Bucknell defeated Army three times this season, by a total of just 16 points.
- Four-time All-Patriot League selection Cara Enright ends her career at Army ranked seventh in Patriot League history in scoring (1,719) and ninth in three-pointers made (174).
Quarterfinal #1
Top-Seeded American Rolls Past Colgate
Box Score
WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) - Top-seeded American topped eighth-seeded Colgate, 70-46, on Saturday afternoon in the first quarterfinal game of the Patriot League Tournament at Christl Arena.
Senior guard Liz Hayes and freshman forward Michelle Kirk led the Eagles with 15 points each. Kirk also pulled down a game-high seven rebounds. The Eagles shot 53 percent (26-of-49), while holding Colgate to 34 percent (18-of-53) from the field.
Leading 13-10 with 11:14 to play, the Eagles used a 13-5 run over the next 4:22 to establish a 26-13 lead with 6:52 to go in the first half. Colgate did not score over the final 5:15 and American's 40-15 edge at the half marked its largest lead during the first 20 minutes.
American (18-12, 11-3 PL) stretched the lead to as many as 26 points three times in the second half en route to their 11th-straight win.
Senior forward Caitlin Gillard led all players with 19 points. Colgate finished the season at 1-29 and 0-14 in the Patriot League.
American, which captured its first regular season title since joining the Patriot League in 2001-02, will face the winner of Saturday's second quarterfinal match-up between No. 4 Army and No. 5 Bucknell at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Game Notes
- American advances to the Patriot League Tournament Semifinals for the fourth time since joining the League in 2001
- With the win, American evens out at 6-6 in Patriot League Tournament games.
- The Eagles extended their winning streak to 11 games. The streak is the longest by any Patriot League team this season. The Patriot League record for consecutive games won is 14 set by Holy Cross during the 1996-97 campaign.
- Colgate first-year Head Coach Pam Bass made her Patriot League Tournament debut in the quarterfinal round.
