Dec. 7, 2008
Box Score | 
EASTON, Pa. - For the first time this season, four players reached double figures as the Lafayette women's basketball team won its fourth straight home game with a 64-57 decision over Bryant on Sunday afternoon. In a game that saw 11 lead changes, the Leopards hung on to remain unbeaten at home and improve to 4-5 on the season.
Sophomore LaKeisha Wright led the team in scoring with 19 points, one shy of her career high. Joining Wright in double figures was Elizabeth Virgin (14) and seniors Cristin Zavocki (13) and Emily Garner (10). Virgin also finished with a career-high 12 rebounds to record her second straight double-double.
Lafayette fell behind early after Bryant opened the game with four unanswered points, but eight combined turnovers from both teams in the first four minutes prevented the Bulldogs pulling away. Virgin's second basket of the game at 15:05 cut the lead to one (7-6) and less than a minute later Zavocki's three-pointer gave the Leopards their first lead.
The Bulldogs (3-6) went up 16-15 with 9:39 left to play, and Kelsey O'Keefe's two free throws at 6:58 made the score 18-15. Wright ended a four-minute scoring drought by Lafayette and scored six straight points to give the 21-18 advantage back to Lafayette with 5:26 remaining. The lead changed hands after two more Bryant free throws at 4:18. Cara Johnson converted on a three-point play with 3:54 on the scoreboard to give the Bulldogs a five-point edge (26-21) and Bryant led 30-27 at halftime.
Wright tied the game at 33 with a layup at the 16-minute mark and Zavocki drained a three at 15:10 to make it 36-33. Wright scored five unanswered points to give Lafayette a 41-35 advantage with 13 minutes to play. The Bulldogs briefly took a 43-41 edge before Sarah McGorry put Lafayette up 46-43 at 9:52.
Bryant again went ahead by one and Kristin Mraz's three at 5:31 gave the Bulldogs a 52-48 advantage. Jessica Spicer responded with a three of her own to pull the Leopards within one (55-54) with more than four minutes remaining. Garner made it 56-55 in favor of Lafayette and a third three-pointer by Zavocki upped the lead to four (61-57) with one minute to play to seal Lafayette's victory.
The Leopards will take a break from games for final exams and return to action on Dec. 16 at La Salle.
Postgame Notes:
- The Leopards had a season-high 11 steals, with a season-high four from Jessica Spicer.
- Spicer had six assists in the game and has 216 for her career, tying her with Sue Williams '93 for ninth all-time on Lafayette's career assists list.
- The last time Lafayette opened the season 4-0 at home was in 1993-94; that squad finished 18-9 overall.
- Lafayette wrapped up a stretch of five games in nine days with a 4-1 record. The last time the Leopards played five games in nine or fewer days was in 1999 and that squad failed to record a victory during that stretch.
