EASTON, Pa. – All five of Lafayette's starters finished in double figures against Marist on Sunday at Kirby Sports Center, but the Red Foxes escaped with a narrow 79-76 victory in overtime. Junior guard and reigning Patriot League Player of the Week, Teresa Kiewiet, continued her dominant play, finishing with a team and season-high 25 points.

Hitting the glass and second-chance points were the pillars of Sunday's matchup. Marist dominated the backboard, grabbing 20 more rebounds than Lafayette (50-30). The visitors also made the most of their 22 offensive rebounds, garnering 20 second-chance points to the Leopards' three.

The Maroon and White jumped out to a hot start when guard tandem Haylie Adamski and Kiewiet knocked down back-to-back triples. Marist wasted no time snatching the lead from the Leopards, thanks to a 10-0 run fueled by scores from Justine Henry, Lexie Tarul and Julia Corsentino. Lafayette trailed by eight points (18-10) at the 2:42 mark, prior to another pair of baskets that brought it within three of Marist (18-15). After the first quarter expired, the visitors led 21-15.

Marist held its lead throughout the entire second period. Both teams only combined for 18 points, netting nine apiece. Kiewiet led the way with four points for the hosts and Henry did the same for the Red Foxes. The Maroon and White were behind by eight points (30-22) with 1:19 left in the half, before Kiewiet knocked down a turnaround jumper to cut the Leopards' deficit to six points (30-24) at the half.

Lafayette outscored the visitors 24-20 in the third stanza and put together its largest scoring run of the day (eight points). Guards Sauda Ntaconayigize, Talia Zurinskas, Adamski and forward Tasha Chudy quickly erased Marist's lead with swift buckets, tying the game at 35 points apiece with 8:22 to go. Both sides fought neck and neck as time wore on and with 5:23 left in the quarter they were knotted at 42 points. Freshman forward Maddison Krug scored the go-ahead basket for Lafayette with 2:03 to play, but Jackie Piddock and Karly Fischer both found the bottom of the net to restore the Red Foxes' advantage (50-48) after three quarters.

The drama continued into the fourth period. Marist narrowly held onto its small lead throughout the quarter, but the Leopards had an answer to each bucket from the visitors. Krug went one-for-one at the charity stripe at the 2:10 mark to tie up the game at 63-63. Seconds later, Piddock waltzed down the floor and buried a triple to put the Red Foxes back in the driver's seat. With just 11 seconds on the clock, head coach Kia Damon-Olson drew up a play to get Kiewiet the ball. The North Mankato, Minn. native drained her shot from beyond the arc, forcing overtime in Easton.

Marist was first to strike in overtime, but Tarul could only get one of her free throws to go with 4:46 remaining. Fischer made a big layup minutes later (2:59), granting her side a 71-68 lead. Lafayette missed on its next trip down the floor, which meant it'd need to resort to intentionally fouling. The visitors ran out the clock and forced some misses from the Leopards to capture their third win of the season. Lafayette fell to 4-6 with Sunday's loss.

Now that finals week is approaching fast, Lafayette has a 13-day break before its next game. The Leopards return to action at noon on Dec. 20 as they hit the road for a Big 10 meeting with Rutgers to conclude non-conference play.
 

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