Bucknell Falls to Lafayette, 68-63, in Women's Basketball

Jan. 16, 2007

EASTON, Pa. - The Bucknell women's basketball team relinquished a 16-point lead in the second half and fell to Lafayette by a 68-63 score Tuesday evening at the Kirby Sports Center. The Bison, who were led by 18 points from Amanda Brown (Richardson, Texas/L.V. Berkner), saw their three-game winning streak come to an end and fell to 11-8 overall and 3-1 in Patriot League play. The Leopards improved to 4-14 overall and 2-2 in league play.

Bucknell's Lindsey Hollobaugh (Loganton, Pa./Central Mountain) injured her knee and missed the final 11:34 of play. The Bison, who have now lost at Lafayette two of the last three years, led 53-42 at the time of her injury and were outscored 26-10 after her departure.

In addition to Hollobaugh playing just 28 minutes, Bucknell's leading scorer, Hope Foster (Washington, D.C./Dunbar) played a season-low 25 minutes due to foul trouble. However, both long stretches she was on the bench the Bison were able to keep their lead steady. Foster finished with 14 points and five rebounds as she made all five of her field goals and all four free throws.

Hollobaugh and Brown helped Bucknell score the first seven points of the second half as it jumped out to a 48-32 lead, the largest of the game, in the opening minutes of the half. However, the Bison then went on a cold spell, scoring just five points over the next six minutes.

Lafayette tallied the final 10 points of the game as it was 8-for-9 from the foul line over that span. Overall, the Leopards shot 23 of 26 from the line, including 6 of 6 from Vanessa Van De Venter, who led them with a game-high 22 points and seven rebounds.

After a slow start in the first eight minutes of play, Bucknell closed out the first half on a 28-17 run to take a 41-32 lead into halftime. The Leopards gave the Bison trouble early as Van De Venter tallied 13 of Lafayette's first 17 points on an array of post moves. Bucknell went on an 8-0 spurt, keyed by five points from Jacquie Seawright (Olton, Texas/Olton), to take a 21-15 advantage and never trailed again until the final minute of play.

The steady Bison attack that featured 13 points from Amanda Brown and 60 percent shooting in the first half slowly extended the lead out to 41-27 in the final minutes of the first stanza before Brittany Purr and Jessica Spicer combined to register the final five points of the half and cut the Bucknell lead to nine at 41-32.

Bucknell played the final 6:46 of the first half without Foster after she picked up her second foul. The Bison scored 20 of their points during that span, including seven from Brown and five from Kesha Champion (Chesapeake, Va./Indian River), who equaled Brown for the team lead with five assists.

Hollobaugh tallied 10 points before her injury to give Bucknell three players in double figures. She also dished out four assists.

The game was plagued by 47 combined turnovers, including 25 by Bucknell. With just 16 total steals in the contest, a number of the turnovers for both teams were unforced.

Le'Le' LeSeur (Snellville, Ga./Wesleyan) provided solid minutes off the bench for Bucknell before fouling out. She totaled three points and a career-high seven rebounds in 26 minutes. She, along with Lauren Schober (Chicago, Ill./Regina Dominican), fouled out of the game. Foster and Champion finished with four fouls apiece as just seven Bison saw more than 10 minutes of playing time.

Jessica Spicer (16), who had six steals in the contest, and Emily Garner (16) gave Lafayette three players in double figures in points.

The Bison lost their first game this season when scoring more than 60 points.

Bucknell, which is just 2-3 in its last five games against Lafayette, wraps up its three-game road trip Saturday at Colgate. Tip off is at 1 p.m.