By Drew Friedman ‘16 & Michael Kelley ‘14
Photo courtesy of Athletic Communications
Thirteen seconds remained in last Saturday’s game against American and for Lafayette Coach Dianne Nolan, they couldn’t have ticked by more slowly.
Miscommunication on an inbounds pass granted American two last ditched chances – one from an offensive rebound – to tie the score at 49. But as the final heave smacked off the back rim, Nolan breathed deeply – her team prevailed against the league-leading Eagles.
The significance of the win reached much farther than league standings – for the first time since 1998, the Leopards have won three straight league games.
Wins against Lehigh and Colgate completed the trio, and the streak could continue tomorrow with a win against Navy.
Nolan believes her team’s recent success is a combination of several aspects.
“Everyone is starting to settle into their roles offensively and defensively,” Nolan said. “Our communication on defense and our ability to box-out have improved. The key though, has been limiting our turnovers, which has been our Achilles heel all season.”
Against Lehigh and Colgate, the Leopards jumped to early leads and held off their opponents’ attempts to pull even. But in their most impressive win of the season against an American team that is 12-9, 5-2, the Lafayette women won in comeback style.
After falling behind 29-24 at halftime, the women hoped to come out strong. Unfortunately, the situation got worse before it got better, with American extending its lead to seven points. After eight minutes of inconsistency on both sides of the court, Jamie O’Hare ‘16 was able to help bring the Maroon and White within two points at 38-36 by hitting a key three-pointer.
The game wasn’t decided until guard Maddie Peabody ‘15 coolly came off a screen and hit a two-pointer from the right elbow to make the score 49-47 in Lafayette’s favor with 1:39 left on the clock. The defense held from there, with a last-second heave from American’s Alexis Dobbs clanging off the mark.
Any conference victory is a big one. However, the fact that the Leopards hadn’t defeated their American counterparts in league play since January of 2007 made it even sweeter.
Co-captain Emily Homan ‘15 led the team in scoring with 15 points on 6-12 shooting from the field. O’Hare came up big in the clutch, scoring nine points and grabbing eight rebounds on the day.
Despite the star players’ fantastic games, the team’s chemistry was the real reason for the victory.
“The win against American was huge. We came together as a whole and fought through the rough patches that occurred, proving that as a team we are getting smarter and stronger in every aspect of the game,” O’Hare said.
“Our defense is definitely one of those aspects that has improved, and has been a key importance that led us to victory in our last three games.”
Coach Nolan believes that this year’s team is an exceptional bunch to be around. “My favorite thing about this team is how fun the group is to be around, and how much team chemistry there is,” she said. “All of them enjoy each other’s company.”
Lafayette moved to 10-12 overall and 3-4 in the Patriot League, quite a turnaround after losing their first four league games. Tipoffagainst Navy is scheduled for 2 p.m. in the Kirby Sports Center.
