Box Score

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Lafayette women's basketball hung tough for the full 40 minutes on Saturday afternoon, but it could not topple the league leaders, falling on the road by a final score of 74-66.

Lafayette's offense was bolstered by a career-high 21 points from Alexis Santarelli, but a low scoring second quarter would come back to haunt the Maroon and White, who couldn't quite recover from that early difference as the game wound to a close. American was led by Cecily Carl, Emily Kinneston and Maria Liddane who combined for 52 of the Eagles' 74 points.

The loss moves the Leopards record to 9-16 overall with a 5-10 mark in league play. American stays unblemished in the Patriot League, improving to 15-0 with a 22-4 overall record.

The Leopards were locked in a back-and-forth battle to start the contest, as shots were falling for both sides in the opening stanza. Santarelli finished through a foul to get three the old fashioned with 5:27 to play. Following the media timeout, Sarah Agnello knocked down a corner three to put the Leopards up 12-8, but Carl responded with two straight treys for the Eagles, sending American in front 14-12 with 3:22 to go in the period. Sammy Stipa and Carl traded threes to bring the quarter to a close with the score deadlocked at 21-21.

American ratcheted up the defensive pressure in the second quarter, holding the Leopards to nine points in the period. The Eagles opened the quarter with a 6-3 run, forcing the Maroon and White to call a timeout with 5:21 left on the clock after finding themselves down 27-24. Following the timeout Lafayette was able to find offense through Santarelli who added four points, but the Leopards were outpaced by the Eagles and headed into the halftime break down 38-30.

After slipping behind 42-34 in the third quarter, the Maroon and White responded with a 6-0 run, forcing American into a timeout with 4:20 left in the period. Santarelli scored two-straight to cut the deficit to 42-40. As the period wound down, Natalie Kucowski finished through a foul to knot the score at 47-47, but Kinneston got a last second lay-in to go, sending the Leopards into the final stanza down by two, 49-47.

American pushed its lead to 68-56 at the two minute mark, Lafayette charged back into the game with a 7-0 run, pulling within five as the score sat at 68-63. Santarelli started the run with a strong finish after getting bumped on the way to the basket. Alex Cantwell capped the run with two from the charity stripe after stealing the ball on an American inbounds attempt. Points continued to flow back-and-forth, but the Leopards couldn't find the final push to complete the comeback as the Eagles hit their free throws to close out the game.

The Leopards outshot the Eagles, going 23-for-44 (52.3%), while American went 25-for-56 (44.6%) from the floor. Lafayette won the battle on the boards, 33-23. The Eagles took advantage of the Leopards' miscues, getting 20 points off of turnovers.

Lafayette starts a two-game home stand on Wednesday when Boston U. visits College Hill. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.