South Mountaineer Volume 39, Issue 21

              MVP PERFORMANCE
Guard Kelly Collins, a member of the
Patriot League All-Rookie Team, scored a
career-high 18 points against Navy in the
semifinals and was named the Patriot
League Tournament MVP. '
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Lehigh wins Patriot League title,
Next Issue: An updated look at Lehigh's spring sports.
WRESTLING: Lehigh crowns two All-Americans, takes 19th, 7
South Mountaineer
Volume 10, Issue 21
Lehigh University Athletics Weekly
March 26,1997
What a wild ride it was
Lehigh won the Patriot League Championship on its home court after a
spectacular tournament and landed itself into the NCAA Tourney
by T.J. Furman
South Mountaineer
A Team of Destiny? No doubt
about it.
With a running one-handed shot
from the right side of the foul line,
Kelly Madden turned the basketball
Joe Ryan
Freshman guard Kelly Collins.
floor of Stabler Arena into something
resembling the French Quarter
during Mardi Gras.
People holding (and even wearing) signs that said "Bring on
UConn," a guy wearing a clown wig
with a brown-and-white painted face
and even a guy looking for commitment - "Marry me
Kelly, No. 20." - found
themselves on the
court jumping up and
down with about 300
other Lehigh fans.
The reaction
seemed appropriate
since the shot came at
the overtime buzzer
against Lafayette and
gave the Mountain
Hawks a 65-63 win and
their first-ever Patriot
League women's
basketball championship.
It was a rousing
rendition of March
Madden-ness.
"It was an incredible feeling," Madden
said. "It was a little
scary when you saw
people diving on top of
you, but I'll take that
any day."
The atmosphere at Stabler Arena
for the March 6 game reached a
peak which Lehigh has seldom seen.
The crowd of 2,561 was the
largest to witness a women's game
at Stabler and the largest in the
history of the league's women's
tournament.
"I'm really happy that so many
people were here," freshman guard
Kelly Collins said. "The schools did a
great job publicizing this game and
the students couldn't have done any
better. I think all the student-athletes
were here and now we'll go out and
support them like they did for us."
The winning moment and the
ensuing celebration was something
that every college basketball fan
hopes will happen during their
college years.
The three seniors - Madden,
Kari Herzog and Moira Deakin -
were the first to ascend the ladder
which Lehigh's assistant sports
communications director Terence
Davis had waiting in Stabler's bowels
to cut down the nets.
"We Are the Champions" by
Queen blared in the background and
the Lehigh faithful showed their
gratitude for an unforgettable
moment with a roaring round of
applause for each player who took a
piece of the nylon.
Madden's shot was one of those
perfect swishes which sounds like
it's cutting through the net. That
noise somehow drowned out the
final horn and the screams of joy and
sorrow that bounded from
the two schools' fans.
The echoes of that swish
lasted long after the game
was over. The scoreboard
still read "Guest 63, Home 65, 00:00"
during Spring Break and the Mountain Hawks, no matter how hard
they tried, could not wipe the smiles
from their faces.
Even national juggernaut UConn
couldn't spoil Lehigh's fun at the
NCAA Midwest Regional last week.
Lehigh even led 5-4 for 53 seconds.
"When we had that lead we said,
'We've got them,'" Deakin said
sarcastically.
Lehigh's first NCAA Championship-qualifying team in any women's
sport kept their smiles all the way
through a 103-35 loss.
"It's nice walking around campus
and have everyone congratulate
you," Madden said. "This is a big
motivating factor. Any time we had a
big game the coaches let us know
about it."
What Madden and her teammates
have accomplished goes beyond
winning a league title and making it
totheNCAAs.
They showed little girls throughout the Lehigh Valley how exciting
their game can be.
They gave a Division I university
that's never been known as a basketball school a genuine Cinderella.
They stopped the hearts of 2,561
fans and gave them a moment they
will never forget.
r- LEHIGH / LAFAYETTE n
GAME STATS
Score By Halves
Lafayette 28    27   8   63
Lehigh 30    25 10   65
Lafayette (63)
Shippee 4 2-4 10, Hollister 2 0-0 4,
Yapsuga 9 2-3 20, Harris 1 2-3 4, Bedics
3 0-0 6, Berlin 7 5-5 19, Brooks 0 0-0 0.
Totals: 26 11-15 63.
Lehigh (65)
Herzog 1 0-0 2, Hendrix 5 2-2 12,
Deakin 1 0-0 2, Madden 6 2-2 14,
Baldwin 2 0-0 4, Collins 4 0-0 9,
Bevington 0 0-0 0, Henry 4 0-0 8, Trigo 5
1-1 14. Totals: 28 5-5 65.
Leading Rebounders: Lehigh — Henry 7
Hendrix 5, Collins 5, Deakin 4, Madden 4
Lafayette - Yapsuga 14, Hollister 8,
Berlin 4.
Joe Ryan
Lehigh celebrates after its Patriot League Championship win over rival Lafayette College.
QUOTEBOARD
"I'm really happy that so many
people were here. The school did
a great job publicizing this game
and the students couldn 't have
done any better. I think all the
student-athletes were here and
now we '11 go out and support
tham like they did for us."
Kelly Collins
Freshman guard,
Tournament MVP
and member of All-Freshman
team
"It was an incredible feel. It was
a little scary when you saw
people diving on top of you, but
I'll take that any day."
Kelly Madden
Senior forward
and co-captain
"It's nice walking around campus and have everyone congratulate you. That's a big motivating
factor. Any time we had a big
game, the coaches let us know
"hout it.
Kelly Madden
Senior forward