BETHLEHEM – The East Stroudsburg University women's basketball team dropped a hard fought exhibition to Division I opponent, Lehigh University, 78-42, on Monday evening inside Stabler Arena.

The Warriors scored the first points of the game with a layup by junior Cassidy Saylor off a pass from fellow classmate Izzy Vogel and went back and forth with the Mountain Hawks through the first 12-plus minutes.

In the first quarter, ESU held leads at 2-0 (7:48), 5-4 (4:04) and 7-6 (2:13) before Lehigh ultimately pulled ahead 10-9 at the end of the period. ESU limited the Mountain Hawks to 4-of-15 (26.7%) shooting from the field and 1-for-8 (12.5%) from three-point distance.

Twelve seconds into the second quarter, Emily Chmiel put ESU back ahead 11-10 (9:48) with a layup. The Warriors were able to tie the score at 13-13 (7:47) until Lehigh flexed their muscles by outscoring ESU, 65-29, the rest of the way.

Vogel had a team-high eight points to go along with four rebounds and two assists while senior Gwenn Sabato (four rebounds, one assist) and junior Corrin Gill (one steal) each had seven points. In her ESU debut, Chmiel finished with six points, eight rebounds and an assist.

Junior Jessica Polin notched four points and four rebounds while fellow classmates Katie Geisler and Saylor each recorded two points and three boards.

Carley Adams did a little bit of everything for the Warriors as the senior totaled one point, four rebounds, two assists, three steals and a block.

Lehigh was led by Remi Sisselman with 17 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals while Ella Stemmer and Jessie Ozzauto each had 11 points. The Mountain Hawks finished the game with a 44.4 field goal percentage despite the slow first quarter.

ESU officially tips off the 2023-24 season at the Viriginia Union Challenge with games against Shaw on Friday at 5:30 p.m., followed by a contest versus the Lady Panthers on Sunday at 3 p.m.