March 8, 2009
Box Score
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lafayette women's basketball team continued to shock the basketball world with a 62-55 upset of No. 6 seed Navy in the semifinal round of the Patriot League Tournament on Sunday afternoon. The Leopards made history by becoming the first No. 7 seed to advance to the championship game of the conference tournament.
Lafayette (10-21) will make the trip back to Stabler Arena on Wednesday night to face No. 1 seed Lehigh, which defeated Army in the day's first semifinal game. Tickets for the 6 p.m. Wednesday championship game to be televised live on ESPNU will go on sale at the Lafayette ticket office at 10 a.m. Monday morning.
The Leopards got a career performance from sophomore Lauren Jackson, who erupted for a personal-best 17 points, nine of which came from three-point range. Senior Jessica Spicer also added 17 points with all four of her field goals coming from beyond the arc.
The Lafayette defense held Navy (16-15) to a 36.5 percent shooting effort, including a 26 percent showing from three-point range. The Leopards shot 40.7 percent for the game, including a 50 percent clip from three-point range.
The Mids committed twice as many turnovers as Lafayette (18 to Lafayette's 9) and Whitney Davidson was the only Navy player in double figures (12 points).
Lafayette found itself trailing 9-4 four minutes into the game. The Leopards fell behind by double figures (18-8) with nine minutes to play but responded with six unanswered points to make it 18-14 at the five-minute mark.
Spicer drained a three to make it 23-20 with less than a minute to play in the half and Elizabeth Virgin's jumper with 22 seconds on the clock kept it a three-point game (25-22) at the midway point.
Spicer scored the half's first points on two free throws to bring Lafayette within one (25-24) and she knotted the game at 32 with her third trey.
Jackson gave the Leopards their first lead of the game (35-34) with her third three-pointer with 12 minutes to play. Lafayette, which never relinquished that lead, upped the margin to eight (46-38) thanks to an 11-4 run.
The team remained up by five, 50-45, after Amanda Smith's basket at 3:45 and Spicer sank her fourth trey to keep it a five-point game (53-48) with less than two minutes to play.
Lafayette led 55-48 with one minute remaining, and the team's seven free throws in the final minute sealed the seven-point victory.
Postgame Notes:
- Students interested in attending Wednesday's game will receive a complimentary "Beat Lehigh" t-shirt. All Lafayette fans are encouraged to wear white to the game.
- The game marked the first time in tournament history the No. 6 and No. 7 seeds faced each other.
- Lafayette's win is the team's first against Navy in the Patriot League Tournament.
- Lafayette improved to 5-2 at Stabler in tournament games.
- Emily Garner led the team with five rebounds and now has 699 for her career. She needs 14 more to tie with Jen Bayer '03 for seventh all-time.
