VESTAL, N.Y. – The Lafayette College women's basketball team dropped its first game of the season on Friday, falling to Binghamton 74-64.

Junior Natalie Kucowski led the way for the Leopards recording her second double-double of the season totaling 23 total points and 15 rebounds. Both are also season-highs for Kucowski.

The game started slow for both sides both offensively and defensively. Binghamton (2-0) would be the first to score over a minute into the game. Senior Alexis Santarelli would get Lafayette (1-1) on the board a minute and a half later off a layup to tie the score up at two points each.

The Leopards would pull away with the 10-7 lead halfway through the first quarter before pushing their lead to 16-9 with two minutes left and would end the quarter with the 18-11 lead.

Sophomore Naomi Ganpo would start off the second period for the Leopards with a layup to put their lead to nine. But from there, the Bearcats would mount the start of a comeback, slowly inching up on the Leopards.

With 1:35 left to play in the half, the Leopards would foul sending the Bearcats to the free throw line with the score 31-28.The Bearcats would make both to bring the score to 31-30. They would then sink two more points to put them up by one with 32 seconds left to send the Leopards to the locker room down by one.

Kucowski drained a three-pointer less than a minute into the third quarter and then less than a minute later drained a free-throw to put the Leopards up by three, 35-32.

Less than a minute later, both squads found themselves tied at 37 points each. Kucowski would once again put the Leopards up by two but the Bearcats would counter with a layup of their own to bring the score to 39-all. From there the two sides would exchange the lead three more times before Binghamton would grab onto at 47-44 lead to finish out the third quarter.

The final quarter of the game saw the Bearcats holding onto the lead and closing it off with the 74-64 win.

Santarelli made her first start for the Leopards since the 2017-18 season after missing last season due to injury. In her season debut, she went 1-5 from the charity stripe, playing 30 minutes and recording six points and one assist.

Next up for the Leopards is another road test. On Wednesday they will head to Queens, New York, to take on St. John's. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.