Black Knights End Season with Loss in First Round

Saturday, March 9

West Point, NY

1 PM

Army West Point

11-19

#10 Lafayette

8-22

Lafayette

Army

Black Knights End Season with Loss in First Round

March 09, 2019 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Lafayette's Nina Holland made a layup with three seconds left on the clock to give the Leopards a 63-61 win over Army in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament on Saturday afternoon at Christl Arena.

The Black Knights had a chance in the final seconds, but Madison Hovren's try from the paint fell short and the Leopards advanced to the quarterfinals against American.

Hovren tallied her final double-double of her brillant career with 22 points and 21 rebounds in a valiant effort from the senior. She played all 40 minutes for the Black Knights as well. Morgann Yancey scored a career high 15 points thanks to five 3-pointers, while Kate Murray scored in double digits with 12 points. Jess Lewis finished a great career with eight assists to led Army. The Black Knights shot 33.3 percent from the floor and 9-of-23 from beyond-the-arc.

Natalie Kucowski was a force for the visitors with 24 points and 10 rebounds and was 11-of-24 from the field. She had three steals and a block as well. Olivia Martino didn't play in the last meeting between the two teams and chipped in with 13 points and Holland finished with seven points. The Leopards took care of the ball all afternoon with just four turnovers.

ARMY HIGHLIGHTS AND GAME NOTES

This was the 67th meeting between Army and Lafayette in the series.
The Leopards now have a 2-1 record against Army in the Patriot League Tournament.
The win ended an eight-game Army winning streak in the series.
Jess Lewis and Hovren finish their careers with 79 victories.
Lewis played in 91 career games, while Hovren finishes with 124 games under her belt at Army.
Hovren also started in her 31st straight contest, which is a career best.
Lewis had eight assists today against Lafayette to give her 155 this season, which passed Kim Kawamoto's mark in 1988-89 for fifth on the all-time single season list.
She concluded her career with 277 assists for eighth all-time.
Hovren reached double-digit scoring for the 29th time this season and 84th time in her career.
She added her 23rd double-double of the year and 56th of her career, which is an Army record.
She finished her career with double digits in 25-straight games, which is a career best.
Hovren recorded 20 or more points in a game for the 14th time this season and 32nd time in her career.
She added 21 rebounds to give her 1,092, which is second all-time in program history.
She had double digit rebounds for the 23rd time this year and 59th time in her career.
Hovren added 20 or more rebounds for the third time this year.
Murray scored in double digits for the 11th time this season.
Yancery made a career high five 3-pointers in the win and started 4-of-4.
The Leopards had a 16-4 advantage in bench points and Army had a 46-34 advantage in rebounding.

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Quarter

Army jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the first three minutes with Yancey and Kate Murray hitting threes early on. Lafayette answered with five quick points and it was a 10-9 game at the 6:15 mark.
The Black Knights fired back with an 8-0 run and led 18-9 with 4:18 left thanks to a pair of threes from Yancey and Murray again.
Lafayette wasn't fazed and cut the lead to 23-17 at the end of the quarter. Yancey led all scorers with nine thanks to three made shots from the outside.

Second Quarter

Army came out in the second and opened up a 31-17 lead with an 8-2 run with Yancey hitting another three and Hovren adding four points.
The Leopards answered the run with one of their own to end the period tied with Army at 37-37 thanks to an 18-6 run with Kucowski hitting a pair of threes and adding a layup as she finished with 18 first-half points.

Third Quarter

Lafayette was able to get ahead by a couple of points at 43-41 with 5:12 on the clock after Holland hit a jumper and a Kucowski layup.
Lewis answered with a 3-pointer that jump started the Black Knights to take a 50-46 lead into the final frame. Hovren added four points in the final two minutes and Fallon had a brilliant hustle play to hit a layup at the buzzer.

Fourth Quarter

The momentum didn't last long as Army went scoreless over the first seven minutes of the quarter, which allowed Lafayette to gain its largest lead at 57-50 after a 10-0 run. Martino and Alex Cantwell each made shots from distance during the run.
Army climbed back in the game with an 11-4 run over the next three minutes and with 14 seconds left Hovren hit a layup to tie the game and got fouled and went to the line with a chance to give Army the lead.
She ended up missing the free throw and Holland took advantage as she swooped down the lane to hit a scoop shot from her hip that hit off the backboard and in for the 63-61 lead.
Army did have a chance at the end as the Black Knights got the ball into Hovren, but she had her shot conested and the ball hit off the rim as time expired.

UP NEXT
The Black Knights finished the season with an 11-19 record overall and Hovren and Lewis played in their final game in an Army uniform.