Box Score

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - A strong second quarter from the Dragons proved to be the difference on Friday evening, as the Leopards were never able to regain the momentum as Drexel walked away with a 52-37 victory.

The Maroon and White move to 3-4 on the year while Drexel improves to 4-3. The loss marks the end of the Leopards three-game win streak. Natalie Kucowski and Drew Freeland tied for the team lead with seven points apiece. Drexel's Megan Marecic finished with a game-high 14 points on 4-9 shooting from behind the arc.

The Leopards battled the Dragons in the opening minutes, as the teams traded baskets back and forth. Both teams came out in a 2-3 zone and forced the offenses to feel out ways to score. Kucwoski opened the scoring for the Leopards with some nice work down low to answer Drexel's opening three.

The teams continues to trade points from there until the Leopards went on a 6-2 run coming out of the media timeout to end the opening quarter. Olivia Martino knocked down a trey to start the run and Kucwoski capped it with a jumper on a fastbreak.

The Dragons came roaring back following the first intermission, pouring in 17 points during the quarter, while they held then Leopards to three points in the quarter. Sarah Agnello recorded the Maroon and White's lone bucket, knocking down a shot from deep at the 8 minute mark. Lafayette headed into the break trailing 25-16.

Drexel kept their foot on the gas pedal to start the third quarter, opening up a 17 point lead with 4:31 left in the quarter. A jumper from Sammy Stipa ended Drexel's 17-0 run and cut the lead to 27-18 near the start of the quarter, and the teams traded baskets from there. The Leopards got back-to-back to buckets near the one minute mark. Agnello knocked down another three and Sammy Stipa stole the ball and raced the floor to finish for an easy lay-in to bring the score to 39-27.

Drexel added four more at the end of third to take a 44-27 lead into the fourth quarter. Tasha Vipond and Alex Cantwell knocked down back to back buckets near the start of the quarter and cut the lead to 47-31. Freeland added two straight of her own to bring it to 49-36, but Drexel responded with four points of their own to see out the game with a final score of 52-37.

The Leopards outshot the Dragons, kncocking down 35 percent of their shots compared to Drexel's 27 percent mark. Lafayette held the edge in rebounds, 42-35. Drexel outshot the Leopards form deep, connecting at a 34 percent clip compared to 25.

Lafayette returns home for its next contest on Wednesday as the Maroon and White welcome Princeton to Kirby Sports center for a 6 p.m. contest.