EAST STROUDSBURG – A layup from senior guard Tiffany Lapotsky with 27 seconds left in the fourth quarter gave the Warriors a 62-61 lead as the East Stroudsburg University women's basketball team rallied for a 65-61 victory on Wednesday night against Le Moyne inside Koehler Fieldhouse.
 
ESU (2-1) would lead early in the contest before seeing Le Moyne hit a 3-ball at the buzzer to take a 17-14 lead into the second quarter. The Warriors got things going offensively in the third quarter and used that momentum to outscore the Dolphins 16-8 in the fourth quarter.
 
"Our team has a lot of fight in them", noted ESU head coach Stephanie Del Preore. "We work together and it shows. We had 18 assists compared to six turnovers. That's a team that wants to share the ball and that's a team that wants to win together."
 
Del Preore went on to say, "I am so proud of the energy we had and our effort tonight. Our goal was to defend our home court and we did everything it took to do that, especially in the second half."
 
Lapotsky tallied a game-high 22 points in the contest for ESU as she finished 8-of-14 from the field and 5-of-7 from the charity stripe. Redshirt sophomore Julia Kutz recorded her second consecutive 15-point outing for the Warriors, going 7-of-11 from the field to go along with three steals and one block. Senior Jordan Hertz delivered a game-high 10 assists for ESU while also pulling down six boards.
 
Le Moyne opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer from McKayla Roberts as the Dolphins extended their lead to 56-49. The lead would increase to double-digits as Erin Fouracre finished a layup to make it 59-49 with 7:15 left on the clock. The Warriors started their comeback as Kutz drained a trey with just under seven minutes left to play.
 
Junior Kaitlyn Swint cut the deficit to a single possession as her layup with 4:37 made it 59-57. Swint finished off a fast break rush for the Warriors following a steal by Hertz. Le Moyne would convert its final bucket of the contest with 4:20 left to play as Roberts put the Dolphins up 61-57. Junior Abby Schoffstall pulled the Warriors within a point of Le Moyne with 1:10 remaining.
 
With 27 ticks left on the clock, Lapotsky got her layup to fall and give ESU a 62-61 lead on the scoreboard. The bucket came off a pass from Kutz, who found Lapotsky streaking to the hoop. Lapotsky closed the game for ESU at the charity stripe, hitting three shots to increase the advantage to 65-61.
 
Both teams shot over 50 percent from the field in the third quarter as the Warriors and Dolphins combined for 45 points. Le Moyne hit 8-of-11 shots in the quarter, while ESU made 8-of-14. The Warriors held the lead on four different occasions in the quarter, including a one-point cushion with 1:55 left on the clock following an old-fashioned 3-point play from Lapotsky.
 
ESU finished the contest 15-of-21 at the free-throw line and went 11-of-16 from the charity stripe in the second half. The Warriors committed just six fouls in the contest, compared to 17 for the Dolphins. ESU forced Le Moyne into 14 turnovers and tallied 14 points off those miscues. The Warriors head to Pitt-Johnstown on Saturday for a 1 p.m. matchup against the Mountain Cats.