EASTON, Pa. – The Lafayette women's basketball team fell to Lehigh in the 2021 season opener at Kirby Sports Center on Saturday afternoon.
 
Senior Drew Freeland led the way for the Leopards with 17 points and senior Natalie Kucowski totaled 16 points and 21 rebounds, two shy of her career-high, to mark her first double double of the season and 44^th of her career.
 
After missing most of her freshmen campaign due to injury, sophomore Jess Booth put up a career-high 13 points while juniors Makaila Wilson and Naomi Ganpo and sophomore Reilly Campbell recorded eight points each in the Maroon and White's season opener. Campbell's eight points was a career-high. 
 
Freshman Makayla Andrews saw her first collegiate action coming in the game for 13 minutes and recording one rebound.
 
Lafayette (0-1) started off strong in the first period taking a 9-4 lead after the first media timeout. But it was Lehigh (1-0) who took control at the end to tie up the game 14-14 at the end of the period. The Leopards were able to push their lead to as far out as five in the second period to go into the locker room at the half up 36-31.
 
The Leopards continued to hold their lead throughout the third quarter, pushing out their lead to as far as nine before the Mountain Hawks slowly start to chip away and mount a comeback.
 
The Mountain Hawks tied up the game 57-57 four minutes into the fourth period. They then jumped out to a three point lead before the Leopards were able to tie it back up once again with a Kucowski field goal to make it 60-60.  
 
The game continued to be a back-and-forth battle, coming down the final seconds as Lehigh made a three-pointer to tie the game up once again at 68-68 with 45 seconds left in regulation. A missed basket on both sides would keep the game all tied up to send both sides into their first overtime of the 2021 season.  
 
Booth got the Leopards off to a strong start, putting in one from beyond the arc, before Kucowski would follow that up with four points of her own to put the Leopards up three minutes into the five-minute overtime period.  But from there it was all Lehigh as foul trouble and missed rebounds proved to be the deciding factor in Lehigh coming away with the 81-75 overtime victory.
 
Up next for the Leopards is the second game of this weekend's home-and-home series with the Mountain Hawks. They will travel to Bethlehem tomorrow for a 2 p.m. tip-off at Stabler Arena.