The Raiders played a close game against Harvard on Saturday November 15, but couldn’t quite surpass the Crimson, falling 68-53. Due to notable performances from two  forwards in senior Carole Harris and junior Josie Stockill, Colgate kept the margin below double digits until the last two minutes of the game. 

Colgate came out strong in the first half, leading by as many as five points at 11-6, until Harvard quickly took control. At 19-16, the Crimson pulled ahead, increasing the gap to 10 points before the Raiders brought it back to 33-26 by the half. 

Both teams looked to dominate the second half. Colgate scored the first basket, but Harvard increased their advantage again to 44-30 with 14:50 remaining. The Raiders looked to respond quickly, and Harris narrowed the

margin to 47-44 with a layup four minutes later. 

Although the team tried to execute their game plan as well as possible, Harvard proved to be a tough opponent. 

“I think we played hard, it was a good tough game. Our defense was good but we were lacking movement in our offense,” Stockill said of the team’s performance.

The final score was the largest margin of the game, and the Raiders fought hard to eliminate a six-point gap until the last three minutes when the Crimson pulled ahead. Harris was the one to put in the layup, which brought Colgate only six points behind.  

“I think we are in very good shape as a team so we will be able to battle any team we play for an entire 40 minutes,” senior guard Mariah Jones said of the team’s future games going forward. 

Harvard was able to top Colgate in statistics, finishing with a 43.6 shot percent compared to Colgate’s 36.1 percent. Harvard also won the rebound margin by 42-31. Crimson teammates Kaitlyn Dinkins and AnnMarie Healy counted 14 and 11 points, respectively. The Raiders defense also had a tough time against All-Ivy First-Teamer Temi Fagbenle, who scored 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting. 

Senior forward Carole Harris led all scorers with 19 points, was 9-of-13 from the floor and missed a double-double by just one rebound. Harris also matched her career-high with four steals. 

Other noteworthy performances were Stockill who was 5-of-9 from the floor and finished the game with 13 points and four rebounds. Senior Mariah Jones led all players with six assists while junior Randyll Butler scored six points, grabbed five boards and had three assists. Junior Paige Kriftcher finished with nine points, which came off three baskets from behind the arc. Senior Missy Repoli also added a pair of three-pointers for her

six points.

Regardless of the score, Coach Nicci Hays Fort feels that the team this year has many advantages, on and off the court. 

“I think that we have several strengths. I think that we have very good senior leadership, I also think that we have a very good inside-outside balance for scoring,” she said. “We’ve got some good post scorers with Carole Harris and Josie Stockill, and then we’ve got some guard scorers with Mariah Jones, Missy Repoli, Randyll Butler and Paige Kriftcher. Things we have to work on are just being consistent, every day, in practice and in every game.”

Moving forward, Coach Hays Fort, and the team, are keeping specific goals in mind during each practice and game. 

“We’ve got an experienced team,” Fort said. “We want to try to finish non-conference .500, and just continue to build on each and every game and get ready for the Patriot League season, because the Patriot League season is going to be where it’s at. We want to score 70 points a game, so we want to play an up-tempo style and keep it fun and exciting for fans and for players.”

The Raiders will take on Drexel Saturday, November 22, at 2 p.m in their next matchup as they travel to the Philadelphia area before

embarking on a trip down South.