Courtesy: Brady Smith, Associate Director of Athletic Communications
Release: 01/19/2006
PHILADELPHIA - Penn erased a seven-point deficit late in the second half,
but
Lindsay Myers' layup with 48 seconds left and clutch free throw shooting
gave
Lafayette a 60-56 victory on Thursday evening at The Palestra.
The Quakers (3-12) couldn't carry over their momentum from Saturday's win
at
Columbia, while the Leopards (5-11) snapped a six-game losing streak.
Suffering from cold shooting and turnovers in the second half, Penn found
itself behind by seven points with three minutes left. After a layup by
Ashley
Gray and a free throw by Monica Naltner cut the Leopard lead to four,
Rachel
Wilson grabbed a board off a Naltner missed foul shot. Wilson missed the
first
putback attempt, but wrestled the ball away again and hit the next shot
while
getting fouled in the process.
Wilson missed her foul shot on the three-point play opportunity, but Penn
got
the ball back after two missed Lafayette free throws and Naltner drained a
two-point jumper to tie the contest at 54-54.
The Leopards quickly responded, as Myers dribbled around Penn defenders
and
cruised inside for a clean layup that gave her team a two-point lead. The
Quakers missed two shots at the other end that would have tied the game,
and
Lafayette's Vanessa Van De Venter and Kara Stetler sunk all four of their
foul
shots to seal Penn's fate.
Penn shot well as a team in the first half, knocking down 11-of-19 shots
(57.9 percent) from the field, but Lafayette stayed close by capitalizing
on
15 Quaker turnovers.
Joey Rhoads and Naltner each led the Quakers with 13 points, while
Jennifer
Fleischer had 13 rebounds.
Penn returns to action Tuesday for its last Big 5 game of the season, at
La Salle. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m.
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