Box Score

LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Lafayette women's basketball team fell on the road on Monday morning to the reigning Patriot League champions Bucknell.

The loss moves the Leopards to 6-8 overall with a 2-2 mark in league play. The Bison improve to 9-6 with the win, which boosted them to a 3-1 mark in the Patriot League.

The Maroon and White struggled to get their shots from deep to fall all morning, going 1-for-8 over the opening 20 minutes, while the Bison went 7-for-13 for a blistering 53.8 percent mark. The Leopards countered by finding success down low, doubling up the Bison in the paint, 20-10, in the first half.

The Leopards got out to a slow start Monday morning, as Bucknell's defense kept them off the scoreboard over the first five minutes of the contest. Kaitlyn Slagus dropped in the Bison's first seven points to start the contest forcing Lafayette to call a timeout. The Maroon and White responded with an 8-0 run over the next 3:25 as Olivia Martino scored Lafayette's first bucket of the game. Alexis Santarelli capped the run with a turnaround jumper before Bucknell halted the run with two from the charity stripe. The Bison took the lead back over the remainder of the quarter, knocking down back-to-back threes to draw the opening quarter to a close.

Lafayette's offense started to come alive in the second quarter, pushing the pace to get into the paint against the Bison defense. The Leopards traded buckets with Bucknell for the majority of the quarter, as Natalie Kucowski and Sammy Stipa scored the first three points of the period. Drew Freeland dropped in a lay-up with 28 seconds left on the clock to cut the deficit to 42-26 at the break.

The Bison continued to knock down threes as the second-half began, knocking in two-straight from deep to start the third quarter. Freeland halted the initial barrage with a highlight double-clutch jumper that found the bottom of the net. The Leopards answered the Bison's next two scores with baskets from Santarelli and Stipa. Lafayette traded points with the Bison for the rest of the quarter, but headed into the final quarter down 70-38.

Lafayette grabbed the first two baskets of the final quarter, as Nia Holland dropped in a lay-up at the seven minute mark to open things up. Alex Cantwell knocked down a three pointer to make it 70-43. The teams traded baskets for the remainder of the quarter, but the damage was already done as the Leopards fell 83-53.

The Maroon and White held the advantage in turnovers, forcing Bucknell into 22 compared to 21 from the Leopards. Lafayette excelled in the paint all afternoon, grabbing 40 points in the paint compared to 27 from the Bison. Kaitlyn Slagus led all scorers with 18. Martino led Lafayette with 10, while Stipa tied her season-high with nine points.

Lafayette returns home on Thursday as Army visits to Kirby Sports Center. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.