By Mick Kowaleski ’14

Photo by Bihn Pham ’13/ The Lafayette

The Lafayette women’s basketball team has seen better days. Despite star center Danielle Fiacco ‘14 setting record after record, the Leopards have gone 2-7 in their last nine games, currently sitting sixth in the Patriot League standings. When asked for an explanation as to the lack of success, Head Coach Dianne Nolan didn’t hesitate in answering.

“We’re very inconsistent offensively,” she said. “Our defense has been very good, but offensively there are very apparent moments when we’ll have flashes of brilliance. We’ll be great for a brief period of time, and then it’ll be gone. It’s been a challenge to find out what exactly sparks those streaks. We’re trying a bunch of things out.”

The attempts to find consistency on the offensive end have seemed to be futile so far. The most recent game against Army provided an example of just how far the Leopards have to go to find success offensively. Lafayette went into halftime locked up with the Knights 30-30, but went 15 straight minutes in the second half without making two shots. They ended up falling by a score of 62-47, the Leopards’ third loss in a row.

“I thought we played real hard on the defensive end,” Nolan said after the game. “Offensively we’re out of synch. We have to know out a way to make more shots, get the ball down to the bigs [Fiaccoand Emily Homan ’15]. Once we get that, we’ll be okay.”

Lafayette seemed to be doing well for the most part until they started turning the ball over. They found success with a press defense, forcing 14 Army turnovers. But Lafayette itself gave the ball away 15 times. Many were forced passes that were intercepted, but after a couple calls went against the team, there was a visible frustration etched across the players’ faces that may have contributed to the struggles.

“Our composure late in the second half wasn’t the best,” point guard Brya Freeland ‘15, who led the Leopards with 12 points, said. “We let them go off on a big run. We’re a young team, so we just have to find a way to bounce back next game.”

“Understanding angles and understanding [situations where] someone is on us…is going to be something we work on,” Nolan added. “Maintaining composure and make that extra pass and make that extra cut in order to find a good look is going to be crucial.”

Lafayette will look to find some offensive stability Saturday at home against Bucknell.