EASTON, Pa. – Lafayette women's basketball dropped an 82-79 final to Le Moyne in the Leopards' home opener on Sunday at Kirby Sports Center. 

Haylie Adamski and Talia Zurinskas combined to score 42 points for the Leopards, with Adamski knocking down four 3-pointers en route to a career-high 22 points and Zruinskas controbuting a career-high 20 points, nine of which came at the line. Rebounding was determining factor in the game as the Dolphins out-rebounded Lafayette 53-32, including 16 offensive boards. 

The visitors jumped out to a 5-2 lead, but buckets by junior Teresa Kiewiet and classmate Tasha Chudy gave the Leopards their first lead of the game (6-5). The Dolphins responded with a 7-0 run, fueled by Ashley Buragas and Sierra Linnin to take a 12-6 advantage. After 10 minutes had expired on College Hill, Le Moyne led 18-11.

Adamski exploded in the second period, scoring 13 of the Maroon and White's 21 points. The Media, Pa. native went 4-5 from the field and 3-3 from beyond the arc as Lafayette's spark on offense. Le Moyne matched the Leopards' 21 second-quarter points through a committee of scorers. Heading into the intermission, Kia Damon-Olson's squad trailed by seven points (39-32).

Lafayette posted its largest scoring run in the third quarter. Eli Clark converted a driving layup to start things off, but the Leopards immediately responded. Baskets from Chudy (7), junior guard Rosie Scognamiglio (2) and a pair of free throws from Zurinskas neutralized the visitors' lead (43-43) with 6:02 to go. The Maroon and White then posted an 11-3 run and a triple by Sauda Ntaconayigize handed them their biggest lead of the day (54-46). With one quarter to go on College Hill, Lafayette led 58-53.

Le Moyne fought back in the fourth quarter and forced the game to go to overtime. Clark led the charge with eight points and Kayden Clark notched seven. The Maroon and White were in front by five (66-61) with 6:30 left, but a mid-range jumper and a pair of free throws cut their lead to one. Freshman Maddison Krug netted two points with 3:24 remaining to keep the Dolphins at bay. Zurinskas then drained two clutch free throws with 23 seconds left, but E. Clark made her way to the line eight seconds later and tied the game at 69 points apiece. Lafayette had the final possession, but was unable to get a quality look at the bucket.

Overtime began with a 5-2 spurt by Le Moyne and it never lost the lead afterwards. Buragas (4) and E. Clark's (6) combined 10 points left Lafayette to play catch up and resort to intentionally fouling in crunch time. The Dolphins eventually escaped with an 82-79 victory at the final horn.

Next up, Lafayette remains at home to host St. Peter's on Thursday at 8:30 p.m., part of a doubleheader with the men who host Cornell at 6 p.m.

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