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Lafayette College Athletics

Women's Basketball

Leopards Come up Short at Lehigh

Feb. 18, 2017

Final Stats | Photo Gallery

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Despite a late fourth-quarter run, the Lafayette women's basketball team was unable to overcome the deficit and ultimately fell to Lehigh 69-60 in a Patriot League road contest on Saturday afternoon in Stabler Arena.

Lafayette received a stellar outing from Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby, who tied her career-high with 21 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field and 9-of-12 from the charity stripe. Olivia Gumbs reached double-figures in scoring for the fifth consecutive game after putting in 13 points to go along with a team-high seven boards.

It was an even matchup, but Lehigh's ability to knock down 3-pointers made the difference in the end as the Mountain Hawks grabbed the lead and held it for majority of the contest.

Gumbs connected on her second field goal of the day to put the Leopards up 9-7, but Lehigh responded with three straight makes from deep to go ahead 16-11 heading into the second quarter.

The Mountain Hawks started the second quarter continuing to fire from deep as 18 of the team's first 25 points came from long range. All of those 3-pointers amounted to an 18-6 Lehigh run that put the Mountain Hawks up 25-15.

The Leopards would counter with a 6-0 run with all six points coming from inside, but Lehigh put up six unanswered to bring the lead back to 10. By the half, the Leopards trailed by three after outscoring the Mountain Hawks 8-1 over the final two minutes.

The Leopards and Mountain Hawks used different styles of offense to generate their scoring in the first half. Lafayette utilized its size advantage and attacked the paint early and often and by the half, the team's two leading scorers, Gumbs and Ottewill-Soulsby, each had nine points.

Meanwhile, Lehigh caught fire from beyond the arc and continued to look for scoring opportunities from deep. Seven of the 10 makes by the Mountain Hawks were 3-pointers.

Within the first three minutes of the second half, the Leopards would score six points, but then get out of sync and Lehigh extended its lead to double-digits. Lafayette brought it back within five, but heading into the final quarter of play, the Mountain Hawks led 50-43.

Through the early stages of the fourth, the Leopards went on a 6-0 run that was capped off by an Alexis Santarelli layup, which made it a three-point game, 55-52. That run would extend to 10-3 once Nia Holland sank a pair of foul shots with five minutes left to play to make it a two-point game.

Lehigh would outscore Lafayette 11-4 the rest of the way though and grab the conference win.

The Leopards will return to College Hill for a two-game homestand starting with a Patriot League contest with league-leading Bucknell on Wednesday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Olivia Gumbs

#0 Olivia Gumbs

Guard/Forward
6' 1"
Freshman
Alexis Santarelli

#24 Alexis Santarelli

Forward
6' 2"
Freshman
Nia Holland

#2 Nia Holland

Guard
5' 6"
Freshman
Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby

#42 Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby

Forward
6' 3"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Olivia Gumbs

#0 Olivia Gumbs

6' 1"
Freshman
Guard/Forward
Alexis Santarelli

#24 Alexis Santarelli

6' 2"
Freshman
Forward
Nia Holland

#2 Nia Holland

5' 6"
Freshman
Guard
Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby

#42 Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby

6' 3"
Freshman
Forward