The Colgate women’s basketball team was able to continue its winning ways this past week by defeating the Army Black Knights 61-47 on Saturday, followed by an overtime victory over Lafayette last night, 60-57.

The Army game was dominated by Colgate, and the Raiders were able to start the first half with a bang. After a brief 2-2 tie score, senior guard Katie Garman scored five straight points and first-year Lulu Brase put in a lay-up to make the score 9-2. Soon after Garman made a lay-up despite a called foul. Garman’s conversion of the three-point play would go on to inspire a 9-2 run by Colgate to make the score 22-5.

Army was able to cut the lead to 12 points, but five consecutive points from sophomore Kelly Korkowski and a three-pointer by fellow sophomore Candice Green put the margin back to 20 points. By halftime, Colgate held a commanding 41-26 lead.

The Raiders’ defensive play in the first half was truly outstanding. The women were able to hold Army to only 16.7% shooting form the field. The Raiders also worked hard for their rebounds and they were able to amass a total of 28 boards in the first half alone.

“Our team was very aggressive in our player to player defense. Our communication was very good in the first half as we switched like screens and executed our on the ball screen defenses,” Head Coach Pam Bass said. “In addition, our physical play made Army take shots further from the basket and under duress.”

The second half did not begin as explosive for the team as the first half did. The Black Knights were able to go on a 12-1 run after first-year Jhazmine Lynch scored with a lay-up. From there on, Army was able to cut the Colgate lead and with three minutes left, the women held an advantage of only ten points over Army. After forcing another turnover, Army star forward Nalini Hawkins made a three-pointer and cut the lead to single digits: a territory that the score had not been in since the first few minutes of the contest.

Colgate was able to pull its game together after this scare. Brase was able to beat a tough Army press to put in a lay-up at the other end. Garman was then able to translate success on defense into success on offense when she forced an Army turnover that ended in two made free throws by Lynch. Brase would make the final basket of the game on a skillful running jump shot from just inside the three-point line to make the final score 61-47.

The Raiders’ great success came from their strong first half defense and their great team shooting. Lynch racked up 15 points, Green had 11 and Garman totaled eight points. Garman also led the team with seven rebounds.

“First and foremost our goal is to work hard in practice to continue to improve our Colgate basketball,” Bass said. Then we focus on each opponent, one game at a time, to determine what we need to stop and what we need to attack in order to beat them. We know we can play with every team in the league; our goal is to beat them.”

Last night, the women hosted the Lafayette Leopards at Cotterell Court for a lengthy battle in which the Raiders came out on top 60-57 in OT.

Lafayette captured the first half from Colgate, going into overtime with a 24-20 lead. Colgate fought back throughout the second half, however, outscoring the Leopards 29-25, which tied up the scoreboard at 49-49 and forced the game into overtime.

In the extra period, the Raiders took a final stand. Led by Garman with a team-high 15 points, Colgate managed to claim 11 more points as a team and clinch the win, 60-57.

The victory marks the women’s third consecutive win, a nice turnaround from a recent four-game losing streak and a sizeable slump through the middle of

the season.

The women look to continue this recent success on the road this weekend as they travel to Washington D.C. to take on American University.