Buffalo, NY - The defending AMCC champions came into the College Center Gym Saturday afternoon only to spoil the D'Youville Women's Basketball Team's undefeated conference start as the La Roche Redhawks defeated the Spartans 73-62.

La Roche came out early and showed why they are the defending conference champions. Just under 3 minutes into the contest, the Redhawks led D'Youville by the score of 8-0. Seven minutes later, the away team poured on the offense even more, leading 25-9. The Spartans began to slowly get their offense going, scoring 13 points for the rest of the half. The Redhawks didn't let off the gas, scoring 40 to close out the first half, leading D'Youville 40-22.

The beginning of the second half was more of the same with La Roche taking a 21 point lead with 15 minutes remaining in the game. Sparked by the tough play of juniors Danette Laguerre (Buffalo, NY/Hutch Tech) and Alexis Smith (Hamburg, NY/Hamburg), D'Youville began to climb back into the game, showing why they entered the game with a 6-1 record. Down 61-40 with 8 minutes to go, the Spartans kicked in into overdrive and pulled the game within 10 with 2 minutes remaining. Unfortunately, the defending champs had too much firepower and won the game 73-62.

"We showed glimpses of being able to hang with the best team in our conference," said third year Head Coach Dan Glover.

"When we put together a full 40 minute effort together on all fronts I think the outcome will be different," continued Glover.

Amanda Marcely (Syracuse, NY/Bishop Grimes) once again posted a double-double for the Spartans, leading the team with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Captain Bridget Andrews (Amherst, NY/Sacred Heart Academy) scored 13 points and went 3-3 from behind the arc.

Coming off the bench, Laguerre and Smith both played tough defense which translated to their offence. Laguerre scored 11 points to go with her 3 assists and 3 steals. Danette had several and-1 plays, converting 3-4 from the charity stripe. Smith had 9 points off the bench and led all bench players in minutes with 21.

Recovering from a tough defeat from the conference champs it difficult, but the Spartans will treat as they have every game this season, according to Glover.

"Mentally we will approach this as we have all games this season. One day and one game at a time."

D'Youville will have a quick turnaround and chance to get back in the win column in AMCC play as they play Hilbert on Monday.

"We will prep for Monday and lace up our shoes and go out and put our best effort forward to get a win and head into break on a positive note."

D'Youville will face the Hilbert Hawks in the College Center Gym on Monday, December 15th at 6:00pm for their last game before winter break.