Center Valley, Pa.--The first half of the Patriot League season is in the books, and American has yet to suffer a defeat. The Eagles tallied a 53-31 home win over Lafayette to move to 7-0 in League play for the first time in school history. Lehigh remained one game back of the Eagles with a home triumph over Holy Cross. The Mountain Hawks have now won 29 straight home games. Colgate defeated Navy, giving the Raiders their first home Patriot League victory since Feb. 10, 2007. Bucknell won for the third time in its last four game, knocking off Army by a 59-41 margin.

American (14-7, 7-0) entered Saturday's game with the Patriot League's highest scoring offense, but it was its defense the stood out. The Eagles held Lafayette (4-17, 2-5) to 13 second-half points in American's victory at Bender Arena. It was the Leopards' lowest second-half total this season. The Eagles closed the first half on a 9-0 run to take a 10-point lead into the intermission. After Lafayette scored the first four points of the second half, American went on another 9-0 run to seize control of the contest. Junior Michelle Kirk(Elmira Lady Express) scored nine points and became the 12 American women's basketball player to reach 1,000 career points. She is the first to hit 1,000 career points since Chanel Hunt hit the mark during her career at American from 2001-05. Junior forward Liz Leer led the Eagles with a game-high 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Lafayette was paced by Elizabeth Virgin, who knocked down 5-of-8 field goals to close with 12 points.