In its first game of the Patriot League tournament on Monday night, the AU women’s basketball team won its quarterfinal matchup with Lafayette 67-47 in Bender Arena.
AU (21-9, 16-2 PL), ranked second in the Patriot League, jumped out to an early 12-2 lead and never looked back. The Eagles used a balanced scoring attack and stifling defense to take a 36-14 lead at the half.
While AU was outscored 33-31 by Lafayette in the second half, the team managed to stay on top thanks to consistent play from its starting lineup.
Junior guard Kaitlyn Marenyi led the way for AU, scoring 20 points and grabbing six rebounds, while also dishing out three assists. The difference in the game, however, was AU’s lack of turnovers in the first half.
At the half, AU had only committed three turnovers, a statistic which enabled the team to attempt more shots than Lafayette at the break.
“We didn’t really turn the ball over, and that’s been a problem in the past couple of games, so that was nice to see,” said head coach Megan Gebbia after the game.
Natalie Kucowski led the way for the Leopards, scoring 19 of her team’s 47 points.
AU will look to continue its strong defensive performance against Lehigh on Thursday night at Bender Arena. While the team has defeated the third-seeded Mountain Hawks on two occasions this season, once 61-53 and 50-47 another time.
“[Lehigh is] an excellent team,” Gebbia said last week. “They did a great job playing us here last time. They can score at all five positions, so they’re gonna put pressure on our defense. We’re gonna have to make a few adjustments with that.”
The Eagles will play at home against Lehigh on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Patriot League semifinal game, hoping to hang another banner in Bender and play in the NCAA tournament.
