The Lafayette women’s basketball team (8-14 overall, 5-7 Patriot League) suffered a tough loss to long-time Patriot League rival Lehigh this past Saturday. The Mountain Hawks defeated the Leopards 79-48.
Twenty-eight of Lehigh’s points came from senior guard Frannie Hottinger, the Patriot League’s leading scorer. The loss came as a big disappointment to the Leopards after they secured a narrow win over Lehigh earlier in the season.
“We mostly went in with the same game plan we had the last time: keep them from scoring in transition, lock in on personnel, limit three-point shots,” sophomore guard Halee Smith, who netted a career-high 18 points during the loss, said.
Lafayette started the game slow, allowing Lehigh to take the lead early with a 21-9 run. The Mountain Hawks carried that momentum into the second quarter with a 29-12 lead over Lafayette.
“Lehigh was up early in the first quarter, so we had to fight even harder to try and come back from that,” Smith said.
The Leopards did just that, starting the second with a 12-4 run. Eight of the twelve points were scored by sophomore Abby Antognoli, with Smith adding the other four. Hottinger fought to keep Lehigh in the lead, netting 16 points to put the Mountain Hawks ahead 38-24 at the half.
Lehigh continued its hot streak in the third, with Hottinger scoring seven points before the media timeout at 4:56. Lafayette was left trailing 50-31.
The game closed with an 11-4 run from the Mountain Hawks, effectively icing the game. At the final buzzer, the score was 79-48.
“We could’ve been more disciplined on the court,” Smith said. “We had our game plan, and it worked the first time around, but we were unable to connect the dots throughout this past game.”
Though it was a disappointing weekend for the Leopards, the team had some things to be proud of in addition to Smith’s career-high. Antognoli, who is one of the team’s top scorers, scored 10 points following her 23-point game against Colgate the weekend prior.
“[Antognoli] made two jump shots in a row that sparked our offensive flow, and we needed that to happen,” Smith said.
Senior guard Makayla Andrews and freshman guard Sauda Ntaconayigize also contributed to the team score Saturday, scoring six and five points, respectively.
“It was good to see them add to our offense,” Smith said.
In preparation for their next game against Boston University on Saturday at 2 p.m in Boston, the team will be reviewing its Saturday loss to Lehigh.
“The team discussed what happened throughout the game and picked out where we could make better decisions,” Smith said. “We will use that to help us prepare for the next game.”
