Nine minutes into Lehman's big showdown with CUNYAC leader Baruch College on Wednesday night and the Lightning was trailing 19-9 with its leader, Louvinia Hayes, writhing on the floor in pain being attended to by the trainer.
To say things didn't look good was an understatement.
An excuse in hand, the Lightning could have folded the tents right then and there and waited for the rematch on January 24th at the Prudential Center.
Only Coach Harrison's crew did the opposite, picking up its defensive intensity, riding Amanda De La Cruz and Jaleesa Gordon, and building off an unexpected energy source in freshman Lashay Bentley to claw its way back into the game.
"We've been working Lashay hard in practice," said Harrison. "She had been seldom used so far, but she played well when given the opportunity tonight."
When Hayes did return with 4:20 to go, the Lightning, trailing 29-19 but perhaps buoyed by her reemergence, ran off a 13-4 spurt to close the half down 33-32.
Gordon's layup out of the break gave the Lightning its first lead of the game at 34-33. It was short-lived, though, as the Bearcats grabbed control back on a layup by Monique Salmon, two free throws by Folashade Akinde and a big three-pointer by Regina Washington for the 40-34 advantage.
Lehman again drew to within a bucket at 42-39 when Louvinia Hayes, who showed surprising quickness despite the ankle injury, scored with 14:37 remaining. The Lightning cut the Baruch lead to three points three more times down the stretch but could never get over the hump. At 56-53 they were thwarted by a layup by Jessica Duleba; at 58-55 Shamika Boyce connected; and at 62-57 Camille Voitot scored to keep the Bearcats ahead.
With 2:34 remaining Washington canned a three-pointer to open up what proved to be an insurmountable 10-point lead for Baruch as it went on to close out the 80-69 win.
Improving to 11-3 and 4-0 in the CUNYAC, Baruch was led by a balanced scoring attack featuring Akinde (team-high 19 points, 14 rebounds), Bouwens (13 points, 10 rebounds), Salmon (12 points, 11 assists) and Duleba (12 points, 10 rebounds).
For the Lightning, De La Cruz poured in a season-high 26 points. Hayes still managed to tally 21 points, 10 rebounds and six assists despite the bum ankle and Jaleesa Gordon chipped in with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
"It was a good learning experience for us," said Lehman head coach Eric Harrison. "We know we can play with Baruch. Now it's just a matter of us tightening some things up."