Feb. 13, 2008

Box Score

HAMILTON, N.Y. - A strong second half translated into a 56-48 Lafayette win over Colgate in women's basketball action Wednesday night. Junior Emily Garner recorded her first double-double of the season with 10 points and a season-tying 10 rebounds. Junior Jessica Spicer joined Garner in double figures with 13 points while also finishing with a career-best eight assists.

A 52 percent shooting effort in the second half was key in guiding Lafayette (13-11, 5-4) to the win. The Leopards' defense held the Raiders to just 23 second-half points and a 34.5 percent effort from the field. Lafayette also recorded a season-high 19 assists in the game to go along with 10 steals, including four by Spicer.

It took nearly two minutes to score the game's first basket as Vanessa Van De Venter's layup at 18:08 gave Lafayette the early 2-0 lead. Colgate scored five unanswered points to hold a 5-2 edge with 16 minutes to play. Van De Venter's score at 15:20 cut the lead to one (5-4) and a Spicer steal led to a Meaghan Malone fastbreak layup to give the Leopards back the lead (6-5). Lafayette remained up by two (10-8) after a Van De Venter free throw at 11:55.

Colgate's Gretchen Polinski then scored five-straight points, including a three-pointer, to put the Raiders back in the lead (13-10) with under 11 minutes left to play. Lafayette remained behind by three (16-13) after a Sami Kozlowski trey with 9:23 on the clock. Over three minutes elapsed without a Lafayette basket until Spicer's jumper at 5:21 kept the Leopards within three (18-15). Spicer's three-pointer tied the game at 20 with 2:08 remaining but Kozlowski drained a three of her own with under a second remaining to give the Raiders a 25-23 lead at the half.

Freshman LaKeisha Wright opened the second half with a basket to tie the game at 25 and junior Brittany Purr gave Lafayette a two-point advantage (27-25) with 18:08 on the clock. Colgate responded with an 8-0 run to take a 33-27 lead at the 15:14 mark. The Leopards remained behind by four (35-31) with under 12 minutes to play before a three-point play by Garner at 10:55 cut the lead to one (35-34).

Junior Cristin Zavocki's trey tied the game at 37 with 9:41 on the clock and Spicer's layup at 8:05 gave the Leopards their first lead (41-39) since early in the opening half. Van De Venter's first basket of the second period gave Lafayette a 45-42 edge and Zavocki's second three of the night stretched the lead to six (48-42) with less than four minutes to play. The junior then scored on a fastbreak opportunity to make the score 50-42. A basket by Van De Venter with 50 seconds on the clock kept the lead at eight (52-44) and five Lafayette free throws in the final minute secured the 56-48 win.

The Leopards are back in action when they travel to Navy on Saturday, Feb. 16 for a 7 p.m. game.

Postgame Notes:
- Tonight's win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Leopards while also giving Lafayette its second-straight victory over the Raiders.
- The Leopards won their fifth league game of the season, matching last year's win total in conference play.
- Vanessa Van De Venter scored nine points and now has 1,294 for her career. She needs 83 more to tie Chris Sieling '94 for fifth all-time.
- Van De Venter had four rebounds in the game and now has 595 for her career. She needs eight more to tie Keri Hollister '98 for ninth all-time.