Nov. 28, 2009

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EASTON, Pa. - Facing yet another tough opponent, the Lafayette women's basketball team was unable to pull off a win against Liberty, falling 90-55 on Saturday afternoon in Easton.

Junior Lauren Jackson had a career game with 22 points, nine of which came from three-point range. She was joined in double figures by classmate LaKeisha Wright (14) as those two combined for 36 of Lafayette's 55 points.

While the Leopards (1-5) had an impressive showing from the field, finishing the game shooting 41 percent, the Flames (5-0) capitalized on nearly 62 percent of their shots. They also dominated in the paint, outscoring Lafayette 64-16, while their bench chipped in 34 points.

Lafayette again struggled on the boards, pulling down only 20 rebounds while Liberty grabbed 33, including 15 on the offensive end.

A 6-0 Liberty run opened the game but a fastbreak layup by Jackson cut that lead to 6-4 after just three minutes of play.

Less than three minutes later, the Flames took a 10-4 edge, but a Wright jumper at 12:40 kept it a five-point game (14-9). Another jumper by Wright with more than nine minutes on the clock made it 19-13 as the Leopards refused to let Liberty stretch its lead.

Jackson drained the team's first three to cut the Flames' lead down to three (23-20) with more than six minutes on the clock.

It remained a three-point game (29-26) with less than three minutes to play after a Jackson layup, but that was as close the Leopards came for the remainder of the game.

Liberty's offense erupted for 13 points over the final three minutes of the half, six of which came from LaKendra Washington, and held a 42-28 advantage at the midway point of the game.

Jackson drained a trey two minutes into the second half to bring the Leopards within 12 (45-33), and a jumper by Amanda Smith made it a 10-point game (45-35).

Unfortunately, that marked the smallest Liberty lead of the half. The Flames went ahead by 21, 56-35, on Devon Brown's fastbreak layup at 13:36. Brown was one of four Liberty players in double figures, led by Avery Warley's 19 points.

Jackson sank a three with eight minutes remaining to make it 64-41 in favor of Liberty. The junior made her third trey at the 5:40 mark to bring the Liberty lead to 15 points (67-50), but the Flames quickly upped their lead back to 20 points and took a game-high 36-point advantage (90-54) on two Amber Mays free throws with 20 seconds on the clock.

The Leopards close out their three-game homestand on Monday with a 6 p.m. against Mount St. Mary's.

POSTGAME NOTES:
- Head coach Tammy Smith used every player on her bench in the contest.
- Lauren Jackson and LaKeisha Wright both had double figures by the end of the first half with 10 points apiece to account for 20 of the Leopards' 28 first-half points.