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Eagles Lose Regular Season Finale at Lafayette, 64-61
Spriggs leads Eagles with 18 points, nine steals

Senior guard Chanel Spriggs scored a game-high 18 points and added a season-high nine steals in the last regular season game of her career.

Feb. 28, 2004 | Boxscore

EASTON, Pa. – With a chance at earning the first seed in the upcoming Patriot League Championship Tournament next week, the American University women’s basketball team shot just 34 percent for the game and lost to previously winless Lafayette College, 64-61, Saturday at Kirby Sports Center.

The Eagles’ offensive woes started early, as they missed their first six shots of the game and trailed 9-0 five minutes into the game. AU did not get its first basket until the 14:30 mark, when Angel Jordan (Glendale, Md./The Newport School/Delaware St.) hit a floater in the lane. Lafayette built up a leads as large as 11 points at the halfway point of the first stanza. However, the Eagles stormed back, going on a 25-12 run to end the half down just three, 31-28.

AU came out of the locker room and scored the first three points of the second period to tie the game at 31 a piece with 18:37 left. The teams traded buckets until, with 13:23 left, American took its first lead of the game, 41-40, on a free throw by senior guard Chanel Spriggs (Sunderland, Md./Northern). Spriggs finished with a game-high 18 points in the last regular-season game of her career.

The Leopards responded with a mini-run of their own, scoring the next six points to take a 46-41 led with 10:43 left, their largest lead of the half. Lafayette’s lead fluctuated between one and five points over the next six minutes, until American took just its second lead of the game, 54-53, on a Spriggs jumper.

Lafayette regained the momentum and the lead when their two seniors – Colleen Fitzpatrick and Elecia Kruise – combined to score the next five points of the game. Fitzpatrick hit a pair of free throws, and then Kruise snagged a steal, went the length of the court and hit a fast-break layup while being fouled. She completed the three-point play, and Lafayette led, 58-54, with just four minutes left.

Lafayette then iced the game by hitting four-of-six free throws down the stretch. AU had a chance to tie the game when Kruise missed two free throws with four seconds left, but Joanna Barnes’ (Washington, D.C./Dunbar/Fresno St.) three-point attempt at the buzzer was tipped and missed its mark.

With a win against Lafayette and a loss by Colgate tomorrow against Holy Cross, AU could have clinched the first seed in next week’s PL tourney. With the loss, American falls to 14-13, 9-5 in the Patriot League, and must await the results of tomorrow afternoon’s games to determine where it will be seeded in the tourney. AU will either be the second or third seed. The Eagles lost despite forcing a season-high 35 turnovers. In addition to her 18 points, Spriggs finished with nine steals and five rebounds.