Despite incurring three more losses this week, the women’s basketball team demonstrated some improvement that indicated that it is on the right track. Last Wednesday, they played their best conference game thus far, but lost 56-48 to Lafayette on Cotterell Court. The Raiders suffered another setback last Saturday when they were defeated by American, 73-46. To cap its busy week, Colgate took on Lehigh last night and played the Mountain Hawks to a close game, but were ultimately defeated, 51-39.

Last Wednesday, Colgate played its most consistent first half for the whole season. The first half ended with the Raiders leading by two points, 25-23. Both teams started nervously, but the Raiders managed to open an early five-point gap, 18-13. However, ‘Gate could not maintain the lead as Lafayette went on a 10-4 run to jump in front. First-year Sami Kozlowski, one of the team’s rising stars, put the Raiders back in front with a three-pointer just before the siren. Colgate dominated the opening minutes of the second half, as sophomore Katie Garman fueled the team in opening its biggest lead for the game at 33-27. The Leopards proceeded to chip away at the lead and made their decisive run by scoring nine unanswered points to secure the victory. In the defeat Garman registered her first ever double-double with 13 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. Kozlowski added 13 points while junior Gretchen Polinski compiled seven points and 10 rebounds. The Raiders shot 34.5%, which is still far from where they want to be, but is another step in the right direction. Head Coach Pam Bass was satisfied with her players.

“It was a great game, it was a very steady performance,” Bass said.

Last Saturday’s contest marked a completely different game. Colgate was fairly outplayed by American, one of the four teams tied for the first place in the Patriot League, and consequently lost 73-46. From the start of the game, it was clear that the Raiders were in for a long game. The Eagles missed few shots, taking a 22-6 lead only after 14 minutes of play. From that moment, American continued to steadily increase the margin, which reached 19 points at halftime. On the flip side, the Raiders were unable to break the Eagles’ defense in the first half. Colgate came out of the locker room with a different mindset as they went on a 14-5 run. Sophomore Laura Grimm scored a career-high 14 points and tallied five rebounds. In spite of the loss, Bass was pleased with her team’s performance.

“It was a great reminder that sometimes you can take two steps forward and one back,” she noted. “You have to give credit to American as well.”

On Wednesday, the Raiders took on another Patriot League foe in Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks had a great start and opened an insurmountable 16-point gap at the break at 25-9. Although Lehigh increased its lead to 24 points, the Raiders fought right back with a 12-4 run of their own. Although the final outcome was a loss, the Raiders proved they are getting closer to what their coach wants to see. Kozlowski led the team with 10 points.

The team will close out their home schedule this coming week, first when they host Bucknell on Saturday and then Holy Cross next Wednesday. These two games give the Raiders another attempt to earn their first Patriot League victory.