JOHNSON CITY, Tenn.- The Lafayette women's basketball team dropped a 51-43 decision at East Tennessee on Saturday afternoon.
Junior guard
Abby Antognoli led the Leopards in points with 17, shooting 50 percent from the field and 33 percent from three-point range.
Antognoli gave the Leopards the lead a minute into the game with a three pointer. Shortly after, Jakhyia Davis got the Buccaneers on the board with a layup. Two threes from senior guard
Makayla Andrews (6 points) and a layup from fellow classmate
Kayla Drummond (7 points) extended Lafayette's lead to 11-6 with 4:22 left to play in the quarter. The Maroon and White held a 16-11 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
Halee Smith (8 points) gave Lafayette a 19-12 lead with nine minutes remaining in the second quarter after drilling a shot from behind the arc. Courtney Moore responded seconds later with a three of her own to bring ETSU's deficit back to four points. Lafayette led 25-19 with 3:11 remaining before the Buccaneers went on a 6-0 run to take the lead going into halftime.
Antognoli knocked down a jumper to begin the second half. ETSU turned the ball over with five minutes to play, and Antognoli capitalized with her second bucket of the quarter. Sophomore guard
Kay Donahue (3 points) knocked down her only field goal of the night with 4:02 left in the quarter. Smith then connected on a layup to reduce Lafayette's deficit to six. At the end of the third quarter, the Buccaneers led by six (40-34).
Moore converted from behind the arc for the first points of the fourth quarter. Kendall Folley extended ETSU's lead with a fast break layup with 6:04 to play. Moore and Journee McDaniel hit back-to-back threes to give the Buccaneer's an 11 point lead. The Leopards pushed the pace on offense, but were unable to complete the comeback, losing 51-43.
ETSU outshot Lafayette 33 percent to 25 percent from the field in the fourth quarter. The Buccaneers went 3-7 from downtown in the quarter to secure their first win of the season.
ETSU committed 10 less turnovers than the Leopards (18-8) on the afternoon. Lafayette shot 38 percent from the floor and ETSU shot 33 percent. The Buccaneer's edged the Leopards slightly on the glass, tallying 32 rebounds compared to Lafayette's 31.
The Leopards are back in action at 6 p.m. on Wednesday for their home opener against Marist.
