By Seth Mendelson/CaMMVets Media
3-14-2025
It was not the best or prettiest game they played all season. But, in the end, all that matters was that the Army’s women basketball team beat Bucknell, 49-39, in a semifinal matchup in the Patriot League conference tournament at Christl Arena at West Point on Thursday evening.
With the win, the Black Knights get the chance to face off against host Lehigh on Sunday at noon for the conference title in Bethlehem, Pa. The winner of the game, pitting No. 2 seeded Army against the top-seeded Mountain Hawks, will get an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament that begins next week.
Lehigh won both games this season, blowing out the Black Knights, 90-51, at Christl Arena in January and beating them, 76-61, in Bethlehem on March 1.
Senior Trinity Hardy, a first-team Patriot Conference pick at guard, scored 16 points and junior Reese Ericson, a second team all-league pick at guard, poured in 12 points to lead the Black Knights to the win. Sophmore Fiona Hastick added 10 points, while classmate Kia Smith had nine rebounds.
But this was not a pretty win for the Black Knights, who hit just 32.6 percent of their field goals (15 for 46 from the field) and were a dismal 4 for 19 from the three-point line in the contest. The good news was Army was able to outrebound the taller Bisons, 40-31, and, perhaps more importantly, the Black Knights utilized a pesky defense to hold Bucknell’s Ashley Sofilkanich, the league’s player of the year, to just 13 points on five for 17 shooting from the field.
Army last reached the league championship game in 2016 when the Black Knights knocked off Loyola, 69-51, to win the crown and advance to the NCAA tournament, where they lost to Syracuse in the first round.
“This is a special group of women,” said Army coach Missy Traversi. “Obviously, the environment was electric and we are happy to be a part of that. We sealed it with a W. The job is not done and we have one more to go with a very talented Lehigh on deck but we are eager to get going and play for the championship.
“Lehigh shoots a lot of threes so we are going to have to guard the three from every position, one through five. We did not do a great job at their house last time so we get another shot at it, thankfully.”
All photos: ARMY ATHLETICS