WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - The Monmouth University women's basketball team dropped its first contest of the 2009-10 season, 58-55 to Lafayette at the Multipurpose Activity Center on Monday evening. The Hawks fall to 0-1, while the Leopards even their season record at 1-1.
Monmouth's freshmen accounted for 47 of the team's 55 points, which represents 85% of the squad's scoring. The Hawks shot 33.3% for the game, while Lafayette shot 43.9% in the contest.
Monmouth freshman Erin Rooney (Christchurch, N.Z./Marian College) scored her first career basket, and the first women's program hoop in the MAC, with a runner off the glass to put MU up 2-0 with 19:13 left in the first half.
Freshman Carly Thibault (East Lyme, Conn./East Lyme) connected on a three from the left corner, set up from a kick out feed from classmate Alysha Womack (Springfield, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara), to even the contest at 7-7 with just less than 11 minutes to go before halftime.
The contest remained a close one to the end of the first half, where the Hawks took a 22-21 lead. The Hawks shot 31% from the floor in the first half, while the Leopards connected on 40% of their attempts. MU was paced by Thibault's six first half points, on a pair of three-pointers, with eight of the nine Hawks that entered the game in the first half scoring at least one point.
LC was led in the first 20 minutes by Lauren Jackson and her eight points, while Elizabeth Virgin contributed six points. Monmouth outrebounded Lafayette 22-13 in the opening half, including 13-4 on the offensive glass.
The Leopards seized their largest game of the game at 40-30 after a three from Jackson and a jumper from LaKeisha Wright with 12:56 left in the second half. Rooney cut Lafayette's lead to six at 50-44 when she drilled a left corner triple from in front of the MU bench with four minutes to go.
The Hawks were able to extend the game late, cutting Lafayette's lead to five on three different occasions with less than a minute to play before freshman Gabby Singer (Harrisburg, Pa. /Central Dauphin) hit a buzzer-beater three for the Hawks.
Abby Martin (Maplewood, N.J./Columbia) recorded a double-double in her first collegiate game, going for 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting and 10 rebounds. Rooney added 10 points, three boards and three assists, while Womack contributed nine points, three assists and two steals. A trio of Hawks, Thibault, sophomore Alexis Canady (Forestville, Md./Bishop McNamara) and Adriana Allen (Ajax, Ontario/Pickering) added six points apiece.
MU shot only 5-for-18 (27.8%) from three-point range and connected on only 10-of-18 free throws (55.6%). The Hawks did outrebound Lafayette 40-29 in the game, including 21-5 on the offensive glass.
Jackson led the Leopards with a game-high 19 points, while Wright added 14 and Elizabeth Virgin contributed 10 points.
Monmouth returns to action on Thursday when it travels to Lawrenceville for a 7:00 pm tip with in-state rival Rider.
