Jan. 26, 2011
Box Score | Photo Gallery 
EASTON, Pa. - Just four days after playing the best 20 minutes of their Patriot League season to rally past Lehigh, the Lafayette women's basketball team delivered its most complete 40-minute effort on Wednesday evening against Army. Led by stifling defense and sophomore Samantha Jordan's first career double-double, the Leopards led wire-to-wire en route to upending the visiting Black Knights by a score of 54-42.
With their second straight win, the Leopards improve to 9-12 overall and 4-2 in Patriot League play. The victory marks Lafayette's first Patriot League winning streak since 2007-08 and its first back-to-back wins over Army since the 2000-01 campaign. The Black Knights fall to an even 10-10 on the season with a 4-2 league tally.
Jordan's double-double came on a pair of personal career bests. She matched her previous career high of 11 points - sharing the game high with freshman Madeline Fahan and Army's Erin Anthony - and set a new personal standard with 11 rebounds. Freshman Danielle Fiacco also grabbed 11 boards in addition to six points and four blocked shots. Fiacco's four swats moved her into second place on the Leopards' single-season list with 71 rejections. The Lafayette record is 74 blocks compiled by Lenora Johnson '81 in the 1979-80 campaign.
Senior co-captain Lauren Jackson tallied eight points for the Leopards, while her classmate and fellow co-captain LaKeisha Wright had seven. Senior Elizabeth Virgin - Lafayette's third co-captain - notched six points. Juniors Melissa Downey and Sarah McGorry each added two points off the bench, and freshman Kristan Liddle rounded out the scoring with one point in addition to matching her career high with five rebounds.
As a team, Lafayette shot 34 percent (16-47) from the field, 40 percent (2-5) from three-point range and 71.4 percent (20-28) from the free throw line. The Leopards also led on the glass, 48-36, and posted 14 second-chance points on 16 offensive rebounds. Army won the turnover battle, 20-15, but could not capitalize as the Black Knights' 12 points off of turnovers just edged Lafayette's 11.
The deciding factor in the game was the Lafayette defense, as Army shot just 25.8 percent (16-62) from the field and 15.8 percent (3-19) from downtown. The Leopards allowed only 12 points in the first half - a personal season-best - and limited Anthony, the Patriot League's leading rebounder, to only two boards. Anthony, who had tallied a double-double in every Patriot League game this season, managed a team-high 11 points but saw her double-double streak snapped courtesy of Lafayette's board-work.
A 6-0 run started the Leopards off on the right foot as the defense held Army to one field goal over the first 7:55 en route to claiming a 12-4 lead. The Black Knights tallied the next five points to trim the lead to 12-9, but that would be the last time in the contest that the margin shrank to within one possession. Fueled by points from different players, Lafayette ripped off the next 11 tallies over the ensuing 6:45 to extend the lead to 23-9 with 2:50 remaining. A three-pointer from the visitors - their only trey on 12 first-half attempts - ended the run, but the Leopards took those three points back down the stretch to enter the locker room with a 14-point cushion, leading 26-12.
Fahan led a balanced attack with seven first-half points. Fiacco had four points and a half-best six rebounds as the Leopards claimed a 27-21 advantage on the boards over the first 20 minutes of play. Each team committed nine turnovers, with Lafayette posting six points-off-miscues to Army's five. The Black Knights were held to just 4-for-32 (12.5 percent) shooting the period.
In the second half, a three-point play for Wright and a Jordan layup gave the Leopards their largest lead to that point at 34-17 with 16:49 to go. However, Lafayette would not record another field goal for 6:33 as Army ran off an 11-2 run to cut the margin to single digits at 36-28 midway through the period. Lafayette would respond quickly as next six points all came courtesy of Virgin to extend the lead back to 14 points at 42-28 and force an Army timeout with 9:01 to go. The timeout would not stop the Leopards' run, as Jackson knocked down a three out of the stoppage to keep the momentum in Lafayette's favor. In total, the Maroon and White scored 10 straight over a span of 2:06 to open up a 46-28 lead with 8:12 left in regulation. The Black Knights had one more run in them, posting nine straight to trim the score to 46:37 with under two minutes to go. But the Leopards, despite going without a field goal over the final 8:29, shot 9-for-14 from the line in that span to close out the 54-42 triumph.
All six of Jackson's points came in the second half, while Jordan posted five points and seven rebounds after the intermission.
The Leopards close out their first back-to-back home games of the season on Saturday, Jan. 29 against American. The action from Kirby Sports Center is slated for 1 p.m. and will be broadcast live on the Lafayette Sports Network (RCN-4, RCN-8, WBPH-60) and LSN All-Access.
