Dec. 7, 2009

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EASTON, Pa. - After a solid first half, it seemed like things would fall the Leopards' way, but Long Island dominated the final seven minutes of Monday night's game and dealt the women's team a 78-65 home loss.

Lafayette (2-7) took a 36-29 lead into halftime but the Blackbirds (6-3) erupted for 49 second-half points en route to their third-straight win.

Lauren Jackson again led the Leopards with her fourth straight double-digit performance with a career-tying 22 points. LaKeisha Wright and Sarah McGorry added 15 and 10 points, respectively. McGorry fell one board shy of a double-double in her 30 minutes of action off the bench.

The Leopards shot 52 percent in the opening 20 minutes, with Jackson pouring in 18 of her 22 points, but managed only 29 second-half points as the Blackbirds held Jackson to four points in the period.

The game started out on a 6-2 Lafayette run over the first three minutes of action. The Blackbirds missed five of their first six free throw attempts and made only one of their first nine field goal attempts to keep it a 6-3 game at the 17-minute mark.

Heidi Mothershead's three-pointer gave the Blackbirds their first lead of the night at 8-6.

The Leopards, meanwhile, were in the midst of scoring drought that spanned nearly six minutes before a Jackson basket with 12:45 on the clock cut Long Island's lead to three (13-10). Her first three-pointer of the contest made it 15-13, but nine Lafayette fouls less than 10 minutes into the game gave the Blackbirds the chance to stretch their lead to 18-13.

Jackson kept the Leopards in the game as she scored eight straight points and added an assist on Wright's game-tying layup that made it 18-all with 8:30 to play.

The lead changed hands over the next several possessions, including a second-chance layup from McGorry that handed the Leopards a 26-25 edge with 4:16 remaining. Jackson capped off the first half with a buzzer-beating three from beyond midcourt, giving Lafayette a game-high seven-point lead (36-29) at the midway point.

Long Island came out of halftime and quickly found its stride, scoring nine points in less than two minutes to make it 40-38.

An 8-2 Blackbirds run gave them a 48-42 advantage with 13:30 remaining while Lafayette went scoreless for a five-minute span before an Alicia Manning layup at 12:31 made it 48-44.

Manning was fouled on a three-point shot at the 10:45 mark and sank two of her three free throws to again make it a tie game at 48-48.

Neither squad took more than a two-point lead until Ashley Palmer connected on a three-point play to give the 59-54 lead to Long Island with seven minutes remaining.

Six straight points from Kiara Evans upped the Blackbirds' lead to seven (65-58) and were part of 12 unanswered Long Island Points that made it 71-58. That run sealed the win for the Blackbirds, who maintained a double-digit lead for the remaining three minutes of the contest.

Evans finished with 20 points and a game-high 11 boards for Long Island.

The Leopards hit the road on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. game at Fairleigh Dickinson.

Postgame Notes:
- Lafayette's 36 first-half points were the most scored by the team in the opening half this season and the Leopards led at halftime for only the second time this season.
- Lauren Jackson accounted for all four of the Leopards' three-point baskets. She is shooting 38 percent from beyond the arc this season.
- Lafayette's bench outscored Long Island's, 16-5.