Women’s Basketball Defeats Loyola Maryland
Impressive Season Continues
The Colgate Women’s Basketball team picked up their fourth conference win this past Saturday, January 26 in an overtime 73-64 home court win over Loyola Maryland.
The Colgate Raiders secured an eleven point lead at the end of the first quarter but the Loyola Greyhounds picked up their game in the second quarter to bring the score within three 36-33 at half-time.
The first three minutes and 30 seconds of the third quarter remained scoreless as the Raiders and the Greyhounds battled to take momentum. With 7:39 left in the quarter, senior forward Mylah Chandler hit a jumper from the paint to bring Colgate’s lead to five points. Loyola Maryland’s junior guard Molly Taylor put the Greyhounds in the lead for the first time in the contest with just under six minutes left in third quarter after successful hitting a three-pointer. The Raiders trailed behind the Greyhounds by five points for the rest of the quarter until junior for- ward Abby Shubiger hit a jumper bringing the Raiders back ahead 44-43 at the conclusion of the third.
Loyola answered back strongly, scoring just 30 seconds into the fourth and regaining the lead. Colgate worked to close this score gap for the entire fourth quarter but was unable to pull ahead until senior forward Summer King made two free-throws with only nineteen seconds left on the clock. Loyola, in the race against the clock, hit a jumper just 13 seconds later, bringing them ahead 60- 59. With zero remaining seconds left on the clock, junior guard Rachel Thompson was awarded two free-throws off of a foul during a fast break. Thompson sunk the first basket, tying the Raiders and the Greyhounds at 60-60 and missed the second, bringing the game into overtime play.
The Raiders rallied and came out strong at the beginning of the overtime period scoring eighth unanswered baskets. The largest lead the Raiders took was at 1:06 left in play as Thompson made two free throws to bring the Raiders ahead 73-60, a perfect thirteen points. The Greyhounds made efforts to come back until the final whistle, sinking four straight free throws. However, Colgate’s early overtime lead was too large for Loyola to recover. At the end of the competition, the Raiders surpassed the Greyhounds with a 73-64 lead.
Colgate has already surpassed their number of Patriot League wins from last year after this triumph on Saturday. Loyola is now 1-7 in the Patriot League. Thompson finished the game with a career high of 30 points and recorded the program’s first 30 point scoring performance since 2005. Head Coach Bill Clearly made sure to acknowledge this impressive performance in his post-game remarks.
This win marked Colgate’s annual Pink Game and National Girls and Women in Sport Day. Clearly donated two dollars for every point scored by Colgate and ten dollars for every successful three pointer to the Kay Yow Cancer Inc.
This upcoming Saturday, February 2 the Colgate Raiders will play the American University Eagles who are currently 7-1 in the Patriot League and tied for first. The game is at 4 p.m. at Cottrell Court.
Contact Lexi Luthringer at [email protected].
