EASTON, Pa. – Emily Homan’s game-high 25 points led three Leopards in double figures in a 74-59 win over visiting Hartford on Sunday afternoon. Jamie O’Hare and Linnel Macklin each scored 18 points in the win.

Lafayette (2-1) shot 45.3 percent from the floor and led from start to finish, handing Hartford (3-1) its first loss of the season. Ashley Lutz grabbed a game-high 12 boards, while Maddie Peabody chipped in nine points and four assists for the Leopards. The Hawks were led by Deanna Mayza and Cherelle Moore with 14 and 13 points, respectively.

The Leopards jumped out to an early 8-2 lead, as Maddie Peabody buried a three from the corner with 17 minutes to play in the opening half. Back-to-back threes from O’Hare and Macklin pushed the Lafayette advantage to 19-3 at the 13:44 mark of the first period. The Leopards led by as many as 18 in the early stages of the game.

With eight minutes left in the first half, Hartford used an 8-0 run to cut deficit to eight, 25-17, on a pair of buckets from Janelle Harrison. Peabody responded for the Leopards with a three-pointer, but Hartford’s Amber Bepko countered at the other end with a triple of her own, to keep the difference at eight, 28-20.

O’Hare’s second three of the afternoon pushed the Lafayette advantage back up to double figures, 33-22, at the final media timeout of the half. A cross court pass from Macklin to O’Hare, freed up the junior for another three with less than two minutes to play. After a triple at the other end from Mayza, Macklin converted a three-point play to give Lafayette a 39-29 lead at the half.

A 5-0 run from Hartford to open the second half on a Bepko three and a Harrison bucket trimmed Lafayette’s lead to 39-34. O’Hare buried her fourth three-pointer of the game to slow the Hawks’ run.

Lafayette pushed its advantage back to 11 at the 15-minute mark as a Homan lay-in was followed by a Macklin three-pointer. Brya Freeland found O’Hare on the break for two to stretch the lead to 52-38, forcing Hartford to burn a timeout with 12:05 on the clock.

The Leopard run continued with 11:45 to go, as Annette Snow knocked down a pair from the charity stripe to bump the edge to 54-38. A jumper from the wing from Macklin was answered by Hartford’s Katie Roth with less than 10  minutes to play, as Lafayette continued to lead, 56-43.

The Hawks cut the Lafayette lead to ten on a three from Mayza with four minutes to go. A three-point play from Hartford’s Morgan Lumb made it a seven-point game, 64-57 at the 3:04 mark.

Peabody’s pull-up jumper from the elbow increased the Lafayette advantage to nine. A driving Peabody dished to Homan under the hoop for an easy lay-in, followed by another Homan lay-in to push the lead to 13 with under a minute to play, and the Leopards closed out the game, 74-59.

The Leopards hit the road for their next two contests, first at Rider on Tuesday night and then at Louisville on Friday.