Led by career-high efforts from senior guard Geleisa George and sophomore forward Michelle Holmes, the women’s basketball team defeated Lafayette College 72-61 at Bender Arena Feb. 15, securing its fifth straight win.
George scored 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting and Holmes scored 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting, career-high statistics for both players.
“For GG [George] to have her career-high, Michelle to have her a career-high, was just a great thing for them,” head coach Megan Gebbia said. “It’s just nice that we continue to beat the teams that we feel we should beat, and doing it as a collective team and from different people [who seem] to step up and be in double digits.”
George and Holmes scored the bulk of their points in the first half, with George keeping AU in the game by scoring the first eight points for AU (18-7, 11-3, PL) after Lafayette (13-12, 7-7, PL) made its first three shots.
The majority of AU’s points were in the paint, with the Eagles only making three, three-point shots throughout the game.
“I think it was really really important, especially with the height that they have on Lafayette, that multiple people attack the board and make sure we got offensive rebounds, putbacks and multiple opportunities for the team to score,” George said.
Senior guard Alexis Dobbs also contributed to the win by scoring 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field.
AU’s offense struggled in the first half, with George, Dobbs and Holmes being the only AU players to make field goals. Lafayette slowly pulled away from AU, pushing its lead to seven points with 8:30 left in the first half.
However, the Eagles fought back and focused on getting the ball inside. After falling behind by seven points, Holmes made three straight layups to bring AU within one point of Lafayette, leading to George making a jump shot that allowed AU to regain the lead. Though the Eagles only shot 35.1 percent from the field in the first half , they were able to go into halftime with a 31-30 lead.
The second half went smoother for the Eagles as they came out on an 8-0 run that forced a Lafayette timeout. Consistent offense from the Eagles, especially from Dobbs who scored 14 of her 19 points in the second half, allowed AU to pick up a double-digit lead over Lafayette and earn the win.
“At halftime, Coach told us to shoot with confidence, so it was easy to come out and hit open shots,” Dobbs said.
Though AU’s offense was shaky in the first half, its defense was consistent all throughout. AU held Lafayette to 36.7 percent shooting from the field and forced Lafayette into 18 turnovers.
Prior to the game, AU honored seniors George, Dobbs, forward Sarah Kiely, and guard Ti’Asia McGeorge as part of senior night.
AU will look to push their winning streak to six games when it plays Boston University at Bender Arena on Feb. 19.
