OPENING TIP
- The Leopards meet Army for the third time in 2018-19, this time in the Patriot League Tournament as the 10-seed.
 
- Lafayette holds a 1-0 record in the PLT First Round when ranked as the 10-seed and have won three of their last four first-contests.
 
- Sophomore Natalie Kucowski was named the Patriot League's Defensive Player of the Year, the first in school history, posting a league-best 69 rejections and 2.4 blocks per game.
 
- Last time out, sophomore Olivia Martino had a career-high 22 points on a career-best six 3-pointers in the regular season finale loss to Colgate.
 
- The winner of Lafayette, Army will move on the the Patriot League Quarterfinals to face No. 2 American in Washington, D.C. at 7 p.m. on Monday.
 
Scouting Army
The Black Knights have limped into the postseason, having lost their final four regular season games.
 
They do have the Patriot League's leading scorer and rebounder in Madison Hovren who has posted 21 double-doubles on the season and has scored in double-digits in the last 22 games.
 
Army holds the slight edge in team rebounding in the Patriot League, pulling in 40.6 a contest to lead the conference.
 
Jess Lewis in the league's top assister with 5.0 a game and 151 on the season.
 
In his 14th season, Army is led by head coach Dave Magarity.
 
All-Time Series
The matchup dates back to the 1983-84 season with the Black Knights holding a 42-24 advantage overall.
 
Army has won the previous nine meetings against Lafayette. 
 
Last Meeting
Army ran away with the meeting in Easton, beating Lafayette 64-40 in early February to sweep the Leopards.
 
The Lafayette defense did a nice job on Hovren, limiting her to just a 3-of-15 shooting day, while Kate Murray led the way with 19 points.
 
Natalie Kucowski was limited offensively for Lafayette, but pulled down 19 rebounds and had four rejections.  Drew Freeland led the Leopards with nine points.
 
Defensive Player of the Year
The Patriot League announce on Friday that sophomore Natalie Kucowski is the conference's Defensive Player of the Year after leading the league in blocked shots and blocks per game. She is the first player in program history to receive the award.
 
Not Just a Defender
Kucowski was also named to the Patriot League Second-Team after being just 1-of-3 players in the conference to average a double-double in the regular season.  
 
Rebounding Crown
At Lehigh, Kucowski reset the Lafayette single-season rebounds record, besting her freshman year total of 309.
 
Currently, she is sitting at 326 rebounds in 2018-19 and is the only player in Lafayette history to have two 300-plus rebound seasons. 
 
Century-Mark Rejections
Kucowski recorded two blocked shots at Navy for 100 rejections in her Lafayette career. She is just the fifth Leopard ever to compile 100-plus blocks in her College Hill career. At Boston U., she matched her career high with six blocks.
 
Century-Mark Games
Senior Alex Cantwell played her 100th career game at Navy donning the Maroon and White. She is the 53rd player in program history to join the 100-games played club, joining her mother, Theresa O'Connell, who played 113 games for Lafayette.
 
It's Tournament Time
The Leopards are no strangers to the first round of the Patriot League Tournament and  have won three of their last four first-round games come tourney time. They also hold a victory as the 10-seed when they went into Holy Cross and knocked off the Crusaders in 2016-17.
 
Now Boarding
The Leopards have been a stout rebounding team all season long and especially in their last stretch of games. Lafayette has outrebounded its opponents in six of its last seven and has averaged 40.4 rpg over the stretch.
 
Play4Kay
The Leopards celebrated their Play4Kay Game against Loyola and helped recognize breast cancer survivors and raise awareness for the cause. There were approximately 30 survivors in attendance and were recognized at the end of the first period and Lafayette wore special pink laces and socks to help raise awareness. 
 
Hey Nia!
Senior guard Nia Holland made her first appearance of the season against American, getting the starting nod on Senior Day. It was her first appearance since the 2017-18 season came to a close at American in the Patriot League Tournament. Last time out against Colgate, she was a perfect 4-for-4 at the free throw line.
 
Martino's Big Night
Sophomore Olivia Martino connected on a career-high six 3-pointers last time out against Colgate for a career-best 22 points. She made her first four 3-point attempts of the night and bested her previous high of five 3s from earlier this season.
 
Efficiency From Deep
Along with climbing the 3-point field goals chart, Martino and sophomore Drew Freeland would rank No. 1 and 2, respectively, on the all-time 3-point field goal percentage list. Martino is shooting 37 percent from beyond the arc in her career and Martino is a 36 percent career shooter from deep.
 
The current No. 1 is Anna Ptasinski '18 who shot 39 percent a season ago. In her career, she shot 36 percent and hit 159, ranking third in program history.
 
Free Throw Success
The Leopards shot it over 80 percent from the free throw line for the fifth time this season vs. Colgate In the game, Lafayette was 14-of-17 from the stripe. Kucowski was 8-for-9 and Holland was 4-for-4.


Surprisingly, the Maroon and White is 0-5 on the year when shooting above 80 percent at the line.