ALBANY, N.Y. – The Lafayette women's basketball team defeated the University of Albany in comeback fashion on Saturday afternoon, 54-47, to pick up its second straight win.

Junior Natalie Kucowski led the way for the Leopards, recording her fifth double double of the season and the 20^th of her career with 15 points and 14 rebounds. She also finished the night with a team-high three blocks. Senior Alexis Santarelli also hit the double-digit point mark in the game with 11 points, going 5-for-11 from the floor while and picking up five rebounds and team-high two steals.

The Great Danes (1-5) won the tip and quickly put themselves up 4-0 less than two minutes into the game. Kucowski scored the first bucket for the Leopards (3-3) to put them on the board and make it a 4-3 game. The rest of the first period saw mostly Great Danes action with them up 12-8 at the end of the first period of action.

Junior Drew Freeland started off the second period with a jumper for the Leopards to tie it up at eight each, but the Great Danes responded with one from outside the arc to put them back in the lead 11-8.

They went on a six-point scoring run to stretch their lead to 20-10 and it wouldn't be until sophomore Makaila Wilson put up two points that the Great Danes' scoring run come to an end and they would only have an eight-point lead over the Leopards, 20-12.

From there, the Leopards started to mount their comeback. With seven seconds left in the half, Albany turned the ball over and fouled to put freshman Jess Booth at the charity stripe, putting the Leopards behind by just four, 24-20 , at halftime. 

The second half opened with the Great Danes putting up a quick three-points to make it 27-20. Lafayette responded with a four-point spurt to pull within four. Santarelli put up a jumper a little later on to pull the Leopards within two.

Santarelli scored four more to make it 36-32, Albany. A little later on in the period, she drained one from beyond the arc to add to a Lafayette six-point scoring run to help the Leopards take the lead 41-40, for their first lead of the game.

Albany would get the first points on the board in the fourth quarter to re-take the lead and make it 43-40. Two made free throws Santarelli and Kucowski with a big three with 7:06 left in the game made it 44-43, Lafayette. From there, it was all Lafayette in the 54-47 final.

Kucowski's 14 rebounds this afternoon put her at 724 for her career -- just three away from becoming the seventh all-time leading rebounder in Lafayette history.

The Maroon and White return home on Tuesday welcoming Manhattan for a 7 p.m. matchup in Kirby Sports Center. The Leopards will then be back on the road the following Sunday, heading to Ithaca, New York to take on Cornell.