Box Score

EASTON, Pa. – Lafayette’s first overtime game in nearly three years ended in defeat Saturday afternoon, as visiting Navy scored the game’s final 12 points to come away with a 65-58 victory.

The Leopards (3-13, 1-5 PL) led by as many as seven points midway through the fourth quarter, but the Mids (9-8, 3-3 PL) rallied in the closing minutes to force the extra session. Jamie O’Hare registered a team-high 16 points for the Maroon and White, while Ashley Lutz (12 points, 10 rebounds) picked up her second-straight double-double and Maia Hood contributed nine points and four boards off the bench.

With the score tied at 58 in overtime, Taylor Dunham sank the go-ahead 3-pointer with 43 seconds left for Navy, picking up three of her game-high 21 points. Sarita Condie, who was the other Mid to finish in double-digits with 10 points, went 4-for-4 from the free throw line to seal the win in the closing seconds.

After trailing 15-8 after the first quarter, and falling behind by as many as eight points at 18-10 early in the second, the Leopards began to inch their way back during the remainder of the frame. Lafayette would get within a single point on three separate occasions in the last 3:11 of play, with a pair of Lutz free throws with two seconds on the clock making the score 26-25, Mids, heading into the intermission.

Neither team shot above 35 percent in the first 20 minutes, though 12 Lafayette turnovers helped give Navy 11 extra field goal attempts. The Leopards, though, earned six more chances at the free throw line, and converted seven of their eight attempts from the charity stripe. The Maroon and White also hit 4-of-7 shots from long distance while the Mids were only 5-of-15 from 3-point range.

Lafayette created a tie for the first time since opening tip-off when a Hood 3-pointer leveled things up at 30 with 7:52 left in the third. Navy responded with eight of the next 10 points to retake a six-point edge, but a Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby layup tied the score up again at 38, and an Angela Ribarich hook shot gave the Leopards their first lead since the first minute with 2:12 to go in the frame. Lafayette would ultimately take a 44-39 lead into the fourth after ending the quarter on a 12-1 run.

The Mids briefly retook a 45-44 edge on a 6-0 run to start the fourth, but O’Hare followed with a 6-0 run of her own to restore the Maroon and White’s five-point margin, and Ottewill-Soulsby added two more to the lead on a layup with 5:01 left.

Navy, though, canceled out that 8-0 spurt with eight-straight points of its own, capped by a Condie 3-pointer to make it 53-52 with 2:32 to go. O’Hare created another tie by going 1-for-2 from the line 32 seconds later.

Those would turn out to be the final points of regulation. The Leopards had the final chance to avoid overtime, but an Ottewill-Soulsby mid-range jumper was sent wide of the basket at the buzzer.

Two Sammy Stipa free throws opened the scoring in overtime, and O’Hare added a fast break layup on the next possession. An Ottewill-Soulsby free throw with 2:57 left, however, would be the last points of the contest for the home team.

Lafayette had not played in an overtime game since falling 59-55 to these same Mids in the quarterfinals of the Patriot League tournament on March 7, 2013.

The Leopards now hit the road for four of their next five games, beginning with a 7 p.m. matchup at American on Wednesday night.

Notes:

O’Hare played the entire game for a second-consecutive contest and a fifth time overall in 2015-16. Her 45 minutes were a new career-high, while Stipa (41 minutes) and Alex Cantwell (40 minutes also topped their previous career-highs.

This was Navy’s sixth overtime game of the season, one shy of tying an NCAA record.

O’Hare, the Patriot League leader in steals per game, added three more swipes to her total this afternoon.