Raven Harris poured in a career-high 21 points, and the AU women’s basketball team pulled away from Lafayette College in the second half to defeat the Leopards 68-47 Saturday in Easton, Pa.
With the win, AU also gets a share of the Patriot League regular season title with Lehigh University.
Harris went 4-5 from the field, but did most of her damage from the free throw line. She netted 12 of her 21 points from the foul line. Ebony Edwards and Lisa Strack chipped in 13 points apiece in the victory. LaKeisha Wright paced Lafayette with 15 points.
“Our sophomore class stepped up big with Raven, Ebony and Lisa all scoring in double figures,” AU Head Coach Matt Corkery told AU Athletics.
With the score tied 8-8 five minutes into the game, the Leopards used a 7-0 run capped by a Melissa Downey three-pointer to take an early 15-8 lead. The Lafayette lead was 19-14 midway through the first half, after a layup from Leopards’ forward Elizabeth Virgin.
After a Wright jumper put the Leopards ahead 25-20 with 2:55 remaining in the first half, the Eagles began to find their rhythm on offense. Harris scored five points, Edwards nailed a three-pointer and Strack made two free throws as the sophomores led a critical 10-4 AU run. The spurt gave the Eagles a 30-29 lead and wrapped up a competitive first half.
A jumper by Lafayette guard Alicia Manning early in the second half knotted the game at 34 and marked the last time the two teams would be tied. A triple from AU’s Michelle Kirk finished off an 11-2 AU run that saw the Eagles take a 45-36 lead with 10:21 remaining.
Lafayette trailed by five with nine minutes to play before AU squashed any upset hopes. Over the next four and a half minutes, the Eagles turned up the defensive intensity as the Leopards went 0-3 from the field and committed two turnovers.
Over that same time period, AU scored seven straight points to take a comfortable 54-42 lead with 4:34 left. The final margin of victory was 21 points, as AU outscored Lafayette 38-18 in the second half. “We made some nice adjustments coming out of the half and picked up our defensive energy,” Corkery told AU Athletics.
For the game, AU shot 42 percent from the field and 37 percent from beyond the arc. Lafayette shot 41 percent from the field and 28 percent from three, but attempted 22 less free throws than the Eagles. With the win, the Eagles finish the regular season at 20-8 overall and 13-1 in the Patriot League, giving AU their best conference record in program history. The loss drops Lafayette to 6-22 on the season and 4-10 in the league.
Lehigh owns the first seed in the torment because it is higher in the ratings percentage index standings than AU. The Mountain Hawks own the tiebreaker and the Eagles will enter the Patriot League Tournament as the No. 2 seed. This sets up a first-round matchup with seventh-slotted Lafayette on Saturday, March 6, at the College of Holy Cross. The winner of the PL Tournament will earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
You can reach this writer at sports@theeagleonline.com.
