Final Stats

EASTON, Pa. - The Lafayette women's basketball team dropped the first game of a two-game Patriot League homestand to American 76-52 on Wednesday night at Kirby Sports Center.

For the third time this season, the Leopards (1-18, 0-7 PL) had a trio of players eclipse the double-digit scoring mark. Sammy Stipa tied her career-high with a game-high 17 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field. Seniors Maia Hood and Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby added 12 and 10, respectively.

It was a game of runs for American (8-10, 5-2 PL) as the team used several lengthy spurts to gain a large lead early and hold it throughout the course of the game. Action got started with an American 7-3 run and a 7-2 run followed to put the Eagles ahead 20-10 at the end of the first quarter. During that span, Cecily Carl led the way for American with eight of the team's first 13 points. She would go on to finish the game with a team-high 16 points and 10 boards.

The Leopards opened the second quarter with a jumper and a steal and score by Stipa followed by an Ottewill-Soulsby layup to complete a 6-0 run and trim the American lead to two, 20-18. However, the Eagles countered right back and outscored the Leopards 12-2 over a three-minute span to grab a 32-20 advantage.

The Eagles took 13 shots from deep in the first half and only managed to sink a pair, but still took a 35-25 lead into the break by breaking down the Leopards' zone and finding the open shooters.

American continued to build on its lead in the second half and after a Lafayette score, the Eagles went to work and used a 16-4 run that took up a large chunk of the third quarter to go up by 20, 51-31. All but four of American's 18 third-quarter points came from inside the painted area.

Lafayette was able to cut the deficit to 13 after scoring six unanswered points to close out the third, but the fourth quarter fell in favor of the Eagles as they put the game away on 60-percent shooting from the field, including three makes from long range.

The Leopards will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 21 when they play host to Lehigh on Alumni Appreciation Day at Kirby.