Box Score

ITHACA, N.Y. - The Lafayette women's basketball team won its third straight game in thrilling fashion on Tuesday evening, as senior Ellen Graham scored the game-winning basket with seven seconds to play to lift the Leopards to a 59-58 victory over Cornell.

The Leopards overcame a rash of early turnovers to battle back behind a strong 40 percent shooting night from the floor. Freshman Natalie Kucowski led the way for the Leopards once again, scoring 15 points and grabbing 14 rebounds to earn her second career double-double. Olivia Martino and Anna Ptasinski finished with 12 points a piece for the Leopards.

Turnovers and pressure from the Big Red hampered the Leopards early on, as Lafayette was kept off the scoreboard in the opening five minutes of the contest. Shots weren't falling for the Maroon and White as Cornell used a full court press to go on a 10-0 run to start the game.

Graham got the Leopards on the board with 4:53 to play in the first quarter, knocking down a pair from the charity stripe. After a Kucowski and-1 brought the Leopards within five, Cornell went on a 6-0 run to bring the score to 16-5.

Martino responded for the Leopards, using a flurry of floaters to orchestrate a 6-0 run of her own to get the Maroon and White back into the contest. Cornell got a bucket back, b Martino answered immediately, dropping in trey to cut the Big Red's lead to 19-14 heading into the first intermission.

The Leopards opened the second quarter with back-to-back buckets from Anna Ptasinski and Sammy Stipa, knotting the score at 19-19 and forcing Cornell to burn a timeout. The teams traded buckets for the remainder of the quarter, with the Leopards earning their first lead of the evening with 3:37 to play in the half following a finish from Kucowski. Cornell answered and headed into the half time break with a 31-27 lead.

Coming out of the break, Lafayette came out hot, opening the third quarter with a 15-5 run heading into the media break. Ptasinski led the barrage with three treys to guide the Leopards to a 42-36 lead. Cornell answered with their own hot streak, storming back behind hot shooting from Janee Dennis to take a 50-47 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Leopards defense stepped up in a big way in the final stanza, holding the Big Red to eight points and a 23 percent mark from the floor in the quarter. Cornell went up by nine following two threes from Dennis. The Leopards buckled down from there, holding the Big Red scoreless for 4:15 seconds while they clawed back into the contest.

A lay-in from Drew Freeland brought the Leopards within one, with 2:03 left to play. The score was unchanged as the clock dwindled down to seven seconds. Graham found the ball in her hands and lofted up an off-balance shot from the right block that sailed over her defender and into the hoop. The Leopards still had work to do following Graham's shot, but their defense stood tall once again, as the Big Red's final shot bounced harmlessly off the side of the rim, sealing the 59-58 victory for the Maroon and White.

Cornell held a slight advantage in rebounds, 40-38. Graham set a new career-high with eight points. Stipa led the Leopards with 5 assists while Kucowski finished with three blocks and three steals.

The Maroon and White are back in action on Friday when they head to Drexel for a 7 p.m. contest.