The Brown & White

The beginning of March marks spring break and a change in season for most college students, but for the women's basketball team, the calendar reads tournament time.

The Patriot League tournament seeds were announced Monday, and Lehigh and American universities each finished with a record of 13-1, their only losses coming from each other. The Hawks (75) had a higher Rating Percentage Index (RPI) than the Eagles (118), which gave the Hawks the first seed in the tournament, breaking the tie.

The Hawks enter the tournament with a 13-game winning streak and will take on the Bucknell University Bison Saturday in Worcester, Mass.

This marks the second consecutive year the Hawks won the regular season crown, which, as a result, secures them a guaranteed berth in the National Invitational Tournament in case they fail to repeat as Patriot League Champions.

On the way to being crowned regular season champions, the Hawks tied their own Patriot League record for most wins in a single season, boasting an overall record of 26-3. The squad's only losses were to Vanderbilt and Princeton universities and American.

In the past three weeks, the Hawks received national recognition for their performance by earning votes in the Top 25 Coaches' Poll for the third week in a row.

As the overall favorites of the Patriot League with their two-season record, the Hawks find themselves in elite company. Only Stanford University, the Ohio State University and University of Connecticut can say they have performed better over the past two seasons.

Sophomore forward Alexa Williams takes pride in the tradition of excellence the team is establishing.

"It says a lot about our program," Williams said. "We definitely have something special going on here. People are really starting to see it too."

Unlike last season, the Hawks will not host the tournament. Instead, it will be held at the College of the Holy Cross, which prevents the Hawks from having home court advantage until the championship game.

This season, Lehigh convincingly beat Bucknell in both meetings with a score of 69-47 in the first matchup on Jan. 27 and 56-41 in the second game on Feb. 24.

Junior forward Courtney Dentler said there are specific keys to defeating the Bison.

"Against Bucknell, we need to focus on our defense, getting out on shooters and stopping their inside game," Dentler said. "We also will look to push the ball in transition and run the floor."

The Hawks are the only team in the league with three players averaging double digits, and all were named to All-League teams. Junior guard Erica Prosser and sophomore forward Emily Gratch were both named to the first team. Senior guard Alex Ross was named to the second team.

Prosser finished the regular season third in league scoring, averaging 14 points per game for the entire season, while leading the league in both assists per game (4.4) and steals per game (2.8).

Gratch, however, led the Hawks in scoring during league play, which helped her to finish fourth in league in scoring. She put up an impressive 13.3 points per game.

Ross was named to the second team for her third consecutive season, averaging 10.9 points per game, which placed her No. 12 overall in the league. Ross is also continuing a battle with Holy Cross senior Bethany O'Dell for most three-pointers made in Patriot League history. Over her career, Ross has made 279 while O'Dell has 276.

The Hawks take the court on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. against the Bison in the first round of the tournament.