The Colgate women’s basketball team lost a heartbreaker to Army on Saturday February 5, falling 55-54. This moves the team’s record to 7-15 on the season and 2-6 in Patriot League play. The game marked the squads’ second match-up of the semester. Colgate fell to the Black Knights in the first 54-40 on January 7.

Sophomore Jhazmine Lynch had another phenomenal game, racking up a game-high 14 points and six rebounds. Senior Tayler Wejnert was also dominant offensively with 13 points and a team-best of nine rebounds on the day.

“Jhazmine is maturing as a player,” Head Coach Pam Bass said. “She is recognizing defenses and making better decisions with the basketball. In addition, when she gets focused on defense, her speed and quickness are very intimidating to our opponents.”

Army struck first on Saturday, netting a three-pointer after less than a minute of play. Colgate quickly responded with a jumper to move the score to 3-2.

Throughout the first half, the Black Knights slowly built up offensive momen­tum, earning them an 18-4 lead by the 10:00 mark. The Raiders’ comeback was blocked by a strong Army defense, forcing Colgate turnovers and maintaining the gap between the teams. With 6:33 left in the half, the Black Knights led 29-9. As half­time approached, the Raiders found their stride, rallying to 20 points. However, at the half, Colgate was on the bottom end of a 32-20 score.

Colgate carried its offensive momen­tum into the second half, scoring a three-pointer in the first minute of resumed play. The teams fought back and forth, dancing around an 11-point margin until the half ‘s mid-point. Then, with the score at 49-38, the Raiders again found their stride, putting together a 10-2 run, bringing the score to 51-48 with 2:13 remaining. Despite a fierce offensive push by Colgate, a turnover in the final seconds put the nail in the coffin for the Raiders. The team had pulled back to within one, but was unable to secure the final point needed to unseat Army.

The Black Knights took the contest 55- 54. In total, Colgate had a 34.5 field goal percentage and was 11-of-15 from the free-throw line.

“We showed the fight and persistence that I am very proud of in this team,” Coach Bass said. “We also emphasized the value of a possession at any time in the game. It might not appear to have made a direct dif­ference at the time, but they do add up over time. Lastly, we talked about all the great things that we did do and how we want to do them more consistently and for a larger portion of the game.”

This Saturday, the Raiders will host their fourth annual Breast Cancer Aware­ness game, facing the American Eagles. For each person in attendance, the team will donate one dollar to the Susan G. Ko­men Foundation. The contest is slated for a 2 p.m. start.