The women’s basketball team got off to a red-hot start against American University, mounting an early double-digit lead en route to a comfortable 56-41 road win.
Facing off in the nation’s capital on Saturday afternoon, the Leopards (6-10 Patriot League, 10-17 overall) stormed into the first quarter against the Eagles (4-12 Patriot League, 6-21 overall).
Junior guard Teresa Kiewiet started the scoring with a basket in the post. A couple of minutes later, the visitors knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers, with Kiewiet pulling up on a transition look, and senior guard Sauda Ntaconayigize converting on a drive-and-kick from sophomore guard Talia Zurinskas, forcing an early Eagles’ timeout with a 10-2 lead.
“We did a really good job of pushing the pace in transition,” Kiewiet said. “We were able to find shooting on the perimeter, we were able to penetrate and get looks inside.”
The hits kept coming from the Leopards, with a well-rounded scoring attack seeing the squad take a 23-9 first-quarter lead, capped off by an open layup for freshman forward Emma Heaney off a press break.
Tides turned in the second quarter, as the Leopards went the first four minutes scoreless, until Ntaconayigize scored off an offensive rebound. Kiewiet imposed her will, scoring six points to close the quarter, but the rest of the Leopards remained quiet, heading into halftime up 31-21.
“Teresa was on fire today,” freshman guard Haylie Adamski said. “So we really found her.”
Kiewiet continued to lead the way, scoring eight of the Leopards’ 11 points in the third quarter, including a series of tough buckets from the mid-range.
“I’m able to score pretty well in the post-up and in mid-range against guards,” Kiewiet said. “I think I have some good size on them, which allowed me to get to my spots and hit my shot.”
The Eagles finally found some offensive success, cutting the Leopard lead to six entering the fourth quarter. However, the Maroon and White amped up the pressure in the final frame, swarming the Eagles’ offense, holding them to just five points.
“Making sure we do our work early, fronting, making sure that they can’t even get the opportunity to score by limiting their touches,” freshman forward Maddison Krug said.
Despite the surge from the Eagles, the Leopards restored control, pushing the margin back into double-digits and closing out a 56-41 lead.
“In the second half, it was more of a conscious decision to try to slow the game down a little bit, run our offense and try to reduce the number of possessions in the game since we had a lead,” Kiewiet said. “Holding any team to 41 points is a great win defensively.”
Kiewiet put up an efficient 26 points on 9-of-15 shooting, while the rest of the team struggled offensively, shooting 12-of-43 overall and 3-of-18 from 3-point range.
The Leopards return to battle on Saturday afternoon for a road rematch against a tough Army West Point team (12-4 Patriot League, 21-6 overall).
“The saying is that defense travels,” Kiewiet said. “We gotta bring our defense on the road when we go play Army next.”