PHILADELPHIA - The Saint Joseph's women's basketball team dropped a heart breaker Thursday evening as a basket by Lehigh with 4.4 seconds to go lifted the visiting Mountain Hawks to a 73-71 win at Hagan Arena.
Trailing by 13 with seven minutes to play, the Hawks mounted a furious comeback to tie the game late. Sparked by a combined 12 points from Chelsea Woods and Ashley Robinson, Saint Joseph's went on a 17-4 run that saw it erase a 67-54 hole and tie it at 71-71 on a driving layup by Natasha Cloud with 13.6 seconds remaining.
Off a timeout, Quinci Mann got through traffic to sneak in a layup with 4.4 seconds to go to give Lehigh the 73-71.
Following a Saint Joseph's timeout, Ciara Andrews drove the length of the court and floated a shot off from the left wing that failed to connect as the buzzer sounded.
In a back-and-forth first half, Lehigh used an 11-3 run to break a 28-28 tie and take a 39-31 lead on a jumper by Katie O'Reilly at 3:05. The Mountain Hawks, which shot 57.6 percent (19-33) from the floor in the half, would take a 41-35 edge into halftime.
A pair of buckets from Robinson to open the second half quickly brought SJU within basket, 41-39, but Lehigh answered with a 14-4 run to open a 55-43 lead with 16 minutes to play.
Saint Joseph's would cut Lehigh's lead to five on a layup by Mackenzie Rule, but the Mountain Hawk built it back up to 13 before the final rally by the Hawks.
For the game, the Hawks hit 25-69 from the field (36.2 percent), 1-8 from three-point range and 20-24 from the foul line (83.3 percent). Saint Joseph's finished with 35-34 edge in rebounding and caused 19 turnovers to its nine.
Individually, Robinson had a game-high 20 points, going 7-10 from the floor and 6-8 from the line to go with six rebounds. Andrews added 14 points and a pair of steals, while Woods came off the bench to score a season-high 12 points and added four rebounds. Sarah Fairbanks was the fourth Hawk in double figures, adding 10 points, while Cloud had seven points to go with a game-high 10 boards and eight assists.
At the other end, Mann led three Mountain Hawks in double figures with 14 points. Lehigh finished the game going 31-55 from the field (56.4 percent), 6-13 from three-point range (46.2 percent) and 5-7 from the foul line (71.4 percent).
Saint Joseph's returns to action Sunday when it hosts Villanova at 2 p.m.
GAME NOTES: One three-pointer is the lowest total for SJU in a game this season as is its nine turnovers...Rule tallied a career-high three points and added three rebounds, an assist and a steal in 16 minutes...Kathleen Fitzpatrick finished with three points...Adashia Franklyn tallied three rebounds, two points and a blocked shot...Jordan Strode came off the bench to see time.
