BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Some days will go down in history as program-changing days. On Saturday, the AU women's basketball team may have had one of them as it beat the Lehigh Mountain Hawks, 75-68, at Stabler Arena for its second road victory of the Patriot League season.
Tala Hadavi led the Eagles with a career-high and PL season-high 30 points and six assists as she played the entire 40 minutes at point guard in the absence of starting point guard, Pam Stanfield.
Sahar Nusseibeh continued her strong play with 18 points and six rebounds and Tara Williams chipped in with 10 points.
"Tala was amazing for us tonight and the team really responded to her leadership," said Eagles coach Melissa McFerrin. "She was not going to let us lose this game tonight."
The Eagles fell behind quickly, 24-15, with ten minutes remaining in the first half. They followed that with an 8-0 run to close the gap to one and held the Hawks scoreless for nearly seven minutes, turning their zone, which had been susceptible to Lehigh chances, into a trapping, collapsing machine that allowed few open looks.
Lehigh's two best shooters, Sara Ellis and Emily Geosits, combined to shoot 5 of 26, including 5 of 22 from beyond the arc.
"They have some great shooters on that squad, but I don't think they had one uncontested shot tonight," McFerrin said.
While Lehigh's outside game wasn't working, the Mountain Hawks' Adrienne Blount had her way down low, scoring a team-high 26 points and 11 rebounds to keep her team in the game for most of the second half.
Blount got Lehigh started off in the second half, as her jumper one minute in gave the Hawks a 36-33 lead. Hadavi then took over, hitting back-to-back 3's to put the Eagles back in front for good.
Up 47-43, the Eagles went on a 7-0 spurt with four Nusseibeh points and a Hadavi 3-pointer to open up an 11-point lead that proved to be insurmountable for the Mountain Hawks. They tried to play catch up the rest of the game, but Nusseibeh and Hadavi hit 10 clutch free throws down the stretch to seal the game.
"I can't even explain how excited I am for this team to play the way we did today," said an emotional Hadavi. "This game was huge for us to go from seventh in the conference up to fourth or fifth."
Hadavi's performance will go down as one of the best in PL history. While Lehigh's record entering Saturday was only 2-5, the team is stacked with talent and was a preseason PL favorite.
Playing without two starters (Stanfield and Abby Lipskis) and out of position, Hadavi put the Eagles on her back, shooting 8 of 12, including 5 of 7 from beyond the arc, keying the Eagles' fast-break attack and shutting down the perimeter on defense.
"She was just clearly the best player on the floor today, and as a coach I stood there knowing that she wouldn't be denied and that she wasn't going to let us lose that game," McFerrin said. "When she gets that open 3 and penetrates the way she did, she's a special player."
Nusseibeh's strong game (four blocks to go with her 18 points and six rebounds), combined with Tish Curry's defense and seven rebounds, gave the Eagles a post presence to guard Lehigh's leading scorer, Jenny Callan, who scored 15 but was held in check most of the game. While Blount had her way, the Eagles were able to contain everyone else on the floor.
Part of that is because they shot a scorching 46 percent from the field and an uncharacteristically high 77 percent from the free-throw line.
There was an interesting dynamic between coach and player throughout much of the first half as McFerrin and Hadavi met on almost every dead ball to set up the team's offense and explout matchups that favored the Eagles. McFerrin seemed to be putting Hadavi, who hadn't played much point guard this year, in a position to succeed on every possession.
"Coach just kept talking about what plays we'd run and making sure we were focused and getting good shots every time down the floor," Hadavi said.
The Eagles' win, coupled with Colgate's loss to Bucknell, tied the Eagles with Navy for fourth place in the conference at 3-5 with Tuesday's trip to league leading Bucknell looming.
"Bucknell is a team that keeps you off-balance, and we're going to have to find a way to go up to their place and make some things happen, like we did tonight," McFerrin said.
The Eagles will try to ride their first winning streak of the season (two in a row after last Saturday's win over Lafayette) into Lewisburg, Pa., Tuesday night. They'll be looking to avenge a 66-43 home loss to the Bison from Jan. 10.
