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American Falls to Lehigh by 14, 69-55
Kim Salem scores a career-high 17 points

Junior forward Kim Salem scored a career-high 17 points, but the Eagles fell to Patriot League foe Lehigh on Saturday, 69-55.

Jan. 17, 2004 | Boxscore

WASHINGTON – Kim Salem (Oakville, Ontario/St. Thomas Aquinas) scored a career-high 17 points and Chanel Hunt (Raleigh, N.C./Ravenscroft) posted her third double-double of the season, but it was not enough as the Eagles lost to Patriot League foe Lehigh by 14, 69-55.

The Mountain Hawks got out of the gate very fast on offense as they shot 70.0 percent from beyond the three-point line (7-of-10) and 57.5 overall (15-of-26) in the first half. Sara Ellis hit four-of -five threes in the first stanza, and finished with a game-high 19 points.

Despite the torrid shooting by Lehigh the Eagles managed to stay within 10 points for most of the first half. Unfortunately, Lehigh went on a 10-3 run to close out the first half up 16 points, 38-22.

The teams traded baskets for the first eight minutes of the second half when AU began to make a run. Trailing 49-31 the Eagles went on a 14-2 run over a four-minute span. Salem started things off with a pair of free throws, and Joanna Barnes (Washington, D.C./Dunbar) followed with two more. Salem then collected a pass from Courtney Spellacy (St. Paul, Minn./Mounds View) and hit a layup. Salem then hit another free throw after she was fouled. A steal by Kaitlin Schuyler (Baltimore, Md./Mercy) led to a layup by Chanel Spriggs (Sunderland, Md./Northern). Salem then hit another layup, and Angel Jordan finished the run with a three-pointer. Salem scored seven of the 14 points.

Unfortunately, American could not get any closer than six points (56-50) with 5:13 remaining. Lehigh closed the game out strong, eventually winning by 14. Salem led AU with 17 points and was six-of-nine from the floor. Hunt had 10 points and 10 rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block, while Spriggs finished with 13 points and five rebounds.

American shot 35.6 percent from the field for the game and was outrebounded by seven (36-29). They did force Lehigh into 22 turnovers and collected 11 steals.

American is now 7-8 overall and 2-1 in the Patriot League. They will next play at Colgate on Friday, Jan. 23. Game time is 5:30 p.m.