The women’s basketball team unfortunately had their season come to an end sooner than they would have liked. After defeating Lafayette handily 80-66, the Raiders went on to the Quarterfinals of the Patriot League to face the  Army Black Knights. Both matches were hard fought and intense. The Raiders were able to capitalize on their offensive capability from players like senior forward Josie Stockill, senior guard Paige Kriftcher and junior Katie Curtis. All three of these players contributed to the Raiders victory over Lafayette. Stockill led the team with 19 points, while Kriftcher scored 14 and Curtis had 13. The Raiders were successful in their effort by passing the ball effectively and taking advantage of all of the offensive opportunities. In addition, sophomore forward Julia Barcello recorded an impressive game with 14 rebounds. This allowed the Raiders to keep the ball in their offensive zone and the shot clock to reset. Barcello shared her thoughts after a great performance.

“I’ve just been very determined to get the ball whenever possible. Randyll (Butler) has challenged me and I want to do whatever I can to help our team win. I want to send our seniors out on a good note. They are all playing amazingly well,” Barcello said. 

More than any one standout performance, however, the Raiders were able to dominate Lafayette because they were playing as a cohesive unit and did not force plays. Head coach Nicci Hays Fort shared this sentiment after the Raiders victory over the Leopards. 

“Look at the stat line – every single person had a positive stat. I’m so proud of our team. If we had to choose a time to be playing great basketball, I’ll choose now,” said Hays Fort. 

While this was a huge victory for Colgate, they did not get much rest before their next match against Army in the Patriot League Quarterfinals. Ultimately, the team was not able to capitalize on their momentum and suffered a 89-62 defeat to the Black Knights. 

While the Raiders shot 37.5 percent from the field, they were not able to catch Army before the halftime buzzer, where Army was up 50-33. This deficit haunted Colgate for the rest of the game as the Raiders were forced to play catchup. 

Kriftcher and Curtis once again led Colgate in scoring with 14 points each. Stockill trailed closely behind tallying an impressive 12 points. Although the Raiders suffered a near 30 point loss, this is not to diminish the effort of the team in this final game. Colgate played well and generated great offense. Quite simply, they were just outplayed. While that comment might seem degrading to the Raiders, there is a reason why Army is the top seeded team in the league. The Black Knights were not missing and were consistent in their drives down the court. Hayes Fort shared this sentiment after Colgate’s loss. 

“Army is really good. We knew we were going to have to play a pretty good basketball game. Unfortunately, we didn’t have our ‘A’ game, and they just exploited us when dropped down from any type of ‘A’ basketball. This is the best Army team I’ve coached against, and all the credit to them,” Hayes Fort said. 

The Raiders are only graduating three seniors after this season, so the team will be retuning many critical players next season. Working in the offseason will be a large factor in how the Raiders’ season goes next year. Hopefully they can make it further in the Patriot League Tournament next year.