Feb. 27, 2010
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EASTON, Pa. - A solid first half put Lafayette in a prime position to grab a Senior Day win against American, but an offensive slump in the second half resulted in a 68-47 loss on the final day of the regular season.
With the loss, the Leopards will serve as the No. 7 seed in next weekend's Patriot League Tournament and will face either Lehigh or American in the quarterfinal round. The Mountain Hawks and Eagles finished with 13-1 league records and the tiebreaker comes down to Monday's RPI rankings.
After shooting 48 percent in the opening half, Lafayette (6-22, 4-10) shot just 32 percent over the final 20 minutes of play. American (20-8, 13-1), meanwhile, had nearly exact opposite numbers, shooting 37 percent to open the game before a 46 percent second-half effort led to 38 points and a 21-point victory.
LaKeisha Wright led Lafayette with 15 points and Melissa Downey joined her in double figures with 10, just two shy of her career high.
Amanda Leone's jumper three minutes into the game made it 4-2 Lafayette. Back-to-back threes by American put the Eagles up 8-4 before Sarah McGorry knotted it at eight with 14:45 on the clock.
McGorry followed that with a fastbreak layup on the Leopards' ensuing possession and Downey stretched it to a 10-0 Lafayette run with her first basket of the afternoon.
Two Raven Harris free throws snapped a three and half-minute scoring drought for the Eagles and cut the Leopards' lead to five (15-10).
American made it a two-point game on another Harris free throw at the six-minute mark before Wright again upped it to a six-point Lafayette advantage (23-17) with a jumper one minute later.
Ebony Edwards's three-pointer with one minute on the clock brought her squad within two (29-27) and Harris drained a three as time expired to suddenly give American a 30-29 halftime advantage.
Three minutes into the second half, Downey went to the line following an American technical and converted on one of her attempts to keep the Leopards within two (34-32). Alicia Manning followed with a long jumper as the shot clock expired to tie the game.
The Eagles countered with an 11-2 run to take a 45-36 lead with 10:21 on the clock. Downey's three-pointer made for a 45-39 game but the Leopards were unable to pull any closer than five points.
American took its first double-digit lead (52-42) on an Edwards free throw with 6:19 on the clock and the Eagles outscored Lafayette 16-5 over the final six-plus minutes of the game to run away with the win.
Holy Cross is serving as the host site for the first two rounds of the tournament. The Leopards' opponent and game time will be determined on Monday when the Patriot League releases the official bracket.
Postgame Notes:
- Lafayette honored the four members of its senior class - Danielle Jenkins, Amanda Leone, Brooke Niquette and Amanda Smith - prior to tipoff. All four seniors started the game.
- LaKeisha Wright has now reached double figures in six straight games.
- Lafayette's second-leading scorer, junior Lauren Jackson, sat out the game due to injury.
