Jan. 22, 2011
Box Score | Photo Gallery 
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The 77th meeting between the Lafayette and Lehigh women's basketball teams was one for the ages. The Leopards erased a 14-point second-half deficit as two free throws from freshman Danielle Fiacco with 33.4 seconds left were the difference a 57-54 victory.
With the win, the Leopards move to 8-12 on the season and notch their first Patriot League win to move to 1-4. The victory for Lafayette is just its second at Lehigh since 1999 and its first in seven meetings overall with the Brown and White. The Mountain Hawks are now also 1-4 in the league and drop to 11-9 overall.
Fiacco led the offense with a career-best 14 points, including the game-winning free throws. Senior co-captain LaKeisha Wright had 11 points, including nine in the second half. Freshman Madeline Fahan also reached double figures with 10 points. In total, 10 Leopards scored - with the bench providing 19 points compared to Lehigh's eight from the non-starters.
Fiacco and Fahan shared team best of eight rebounds, guiding the Leopards to a 46-43 advantage on the glass. Junior Melissa Downey was the team's top facilitator with four of the Leopards' 15 assists.
Defensively, Lafayette held Lehigh to 3-for-23 (13 percent) shooting from three-point range and forced 17 turnovers. Fahan had a game-best four steals and Fiacco blocked three shots to increase her league-leading total.
The Leopards had four of the first five tallies of the contest, but the home team made the first extended run. The 14-2 spurt, which took 5:02 off the clock, saw the Mountain Hawks grab 1 15-6 advantage with 11:11 to go in the first half. The Lafayette offense found its stride at that point, but the Leopards could only go shot-for-shot with the hosts for the remainder of the half, heading to the locker room trailing by eight points, 31-23.
Fiacco had seven first-half points on 3-for-5 shooting from the floor. Four players, including all three freshmen, shared the team-best with three first-half rebounds apiece. Lafayette held a slight 23-21 edge on the glass, but Lehigh posted four points off of their five offensive rips while the Leopards managed just two second-chance points from seven offensive rebounds. Lafayette was plagued by 11 turnovers in the frame which led to six of the Mountain Hawks' points. The Maroon and White defense did have eight takeaways but scored no points on the ensuing possessions.
The Leopards struck first in the second half courtesy of a Downey three-pointer, but Lehigh tallied the next nine to extend the margin to its largest of the contest at 40-26. The deficit stayed in double digits up to a 44-31 score. At that point, Lafayette ran off 14 straight tallies, punctuated by a Jordan jumper to put the Leopards on top, 47-46. That would be the first of seven lead changes in the final nine minutes as neither team would lead by more than one possession for the remainder of the contest. Lehigh's last bucket came with 1:51 to play, as Emily Gratch sank one from down low to give the home team a 54-53 lead. After an empty trip for the Leopards, Lehigh's Emily Prosser forced a pass to the block that was intercepted by sophomore Samantha Jordan. The ensuing possession led to a trip to foul line for Fiacco with 33.4 seconds remaining. The freshman center calmly sank both tries to put Lafayette on top. The Mountain Hawks got a look from three-point range on their next possession, but the errant shot was corralled by Fahan, who was promptly fouled. Like her classmate, Fahan was true on both of her attempts at the stripe to extend the Leopards' advantage to 57-54. Lehigh took a pair of desperation heaves in the closing seconds, but neither prayer was answered as Lafayette claimed a shocking 57-54 victory.
Prosser had a double-double for the Mountain Hawks with 14 points and a game-high 10 assists. Gratch and Courtney Dentler joined her in double figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
On deck for the Leopards are their first back-to-back home games of the season. Army visits College Hill on Wednesday, Jan. 26 for a 7 p.m. contest, and a showdown with American tips off at Kirby Sports Center at 1 p.m.
