Feb. 15, 2012
Box Score
WORCESTER, Mass. - The Lafayette women's basketball team cut an 18-point second-half deficit down to six on Wednesday at Holy Cross, but time ran out on the potential comeback as the host Crusaders held on to a 61-52 decision. Danielle Fiacco and Emily Homan each recorded a double-double for the Leopards.
With the loss, Lafayette falls to 8-18 overall and 2-9 in the Patriot League. The Crusaders improve to 14-12 on the season with a 5-6 league mark.
Fiacco's double-double consisted of a pair of game-highs: 17 points and 11 rebounds. The sophomore also swatted three shots to break the Patriot League single-season record with 98 blocks on the season. She passes Fordham's Kelly Roche and Bucknell's Hope Foster, who each blocked 95 shots in a single campaign. Fiacco, the nation's third-most prolific shot blocker this season, also extends her Lafayette single-season (98) and career (169) shot-blocking records.
Homan, the Leopards' leading scorer in 2011-12, tallied 13 points and 10 boards. She became just the fifth Lafayette player to net 300 points in her freshman season on College Hill. Homan also ranks third all-time in rebounding among Leopards' freshmen with 174 boards. Jennifer Bayer '03 owns both all-time mark with 372 points and 252 rebounds in her rookie campaign of 1999-00.
Maddie Peabody and Sarah McGorry added five points each for the Leopards. Samantha Jordan scored four and the quartet of Madeline Fahan, Brya Freeland, Melissa Downey and Linnel Macklin netted two points apiece.
Guided by a combined 21 rips from their starting frontcourt, the Leopards held a 40-38 advantage on the boards. Holy Cross, however, nabbed a 13-11 edge in second-chance points with 16 offensive rebounds.
Lafayette shot 23-for-58 (39.7 percent) from the field, 1-for-4 (25 percent) from three-point range and 5-for-8 (62.5 percent) from the free throw line. Holy Cross went 22-for-63 (34.9 percent) from the floor, 3-for-22 (13.6 percent) from downtown and 14-for-20 (70 percent) from the line.
Emily Parker and Brisje Malone led the Crusaders with 15 points apiece. Amy Lepley and Alex Smith - the Patriot League's top scoring tandem - were held to 7-for-26 shooting overall and 0-for-12 from beyond the arc.
Fiacco wasted no time in setting the new Patriot League record, sending back the second Holy Cross offering of the evening with the game still scoreless. From there, the clubs trading buckets, as the margin stayed within a possession for the first 10 minutes of the contest. Back-to-back three pointers by Holy Cross, their only two treys of the period, gave the home team an 18-14 edge at the 9:20 mark, and the lead grew to 22-16 at the 5:41 mark. A jumper by Homan at 5:17 and a free throw from the freshman at 4:27 brought Lafayette back within three at 22-19, but the Leopards would not score again in the period. The Crusaders added six tallies to close out the half and take a 28-19 cushion into the locker room.
An early 7-0 run in the second half extended the Holy Cross lead to 37-21 with 17:27 remaining. The Leopards did not face that second-half scoring woes that had plagued them in recent outings, and the defense began to slow down the Patriot League's most potent offense. Trailing 44-26 at the 14:22 mark, six consecutive points from Fiacco capped a 12-2 run that pulled Lafayette back within single digits at 46-38 with under eight minutes remaining.
The tempo would shift to a back-and-forth affair at that point, which kept the Leopards from gaining additional ground on the host Crusaders as the clock wound down. Lafayette stood within seven points in the final minute, but drew no closer while Holy Cross tacked on a pair of late free throws to close out a 61-52 decision.
The Leopards return to Kirby Sports Center on Saturday, Feb. 18 at noon against historic rival Lehigh. The game will be broadcast live on the Lafayette Sports Network and GoLeopards.com.
