HAMILTON, N.Y. (11/26/08) -   Freshman Patricia Oakes (Evergreen, Colo.) tallied a team-high 16 points as the Colgate University women’s basketball team rallied for a 48-46 win against non-conference opponent Albany on Cotterell Court Wednesday evening. 

 

Albany’s (0-5) Tiffanie Johnson led all scorers with 25 points and had a team-high 9 rebounds for the Great Danes.  Raiders’ Georgia Gier (Mercer Island, Wash.) led all players on the boards with 13 rebounds, while freshman Candice Green (East Brunswick, N.J.) contributed 10 points and two assists.  Sami Kozlowski (New Market, Md.) added nine points and had two steals in the Colgate (2-4) victory.  

 

Trailing by 12 points with 10:13 remaining in the second half, the Raiders went on a 12-0 run to tie the Great Danes at 43 with just under two minutes left in the game.  Four different Colgate players scored to spark the come back, while the defense forced Albany into three turnovers while holding them scoreless for over eight minutes of playing time.

 

Albany’s Tabitha Makopondo hit a jumper and put in a free throw to give the Great Danes a three point advantage with 2:40 remaining.  Oakes connected on a lay-up to cut the lead to one and Kozlowski followed with a field goal to give the Raiders their first lead of the game with 35 seconds left on the clock.  Johnson missed Albany’s next shot and Gier was fouled on the rebound.  Gier sunk her first free throw to make it a two point game with 5 seconds remaining and the Raiders held on for the win.   

 

The Raiders shot 42.9 percent from the field in the second half and the same from 3-point range.  Colgate also improved their free throw shooting in the second half, making 75 percent of their attempts, compared to just 1-4 (25 percent) in the first half.  Colgate finished the game 19-45 (42.2. percent) from the floor.  Colgate also out-rebounded Albany 37-27.

 

The Great Danes who hit 41.4 percent of their shots from the floor in the first half, made just 5-26 shots (19.2 percent) in the second half.  Albany hit just 34.8 percent of their shots from behind the arc, after going 2-11 in the second half.  

 

The first half opened with a 22-6 run by the Great Danes in the opening 13 minutes.  Top-scorer, Johnson scored 13 of those points and scored 20 of her game-high 25 points in the session.  Colgate fought back to head into the break down 31-21.  Junior Katie Garman (Poplar Grove, Ill.) came off the bench to score eight points for the Raiders.

 

Colgate will be back in action this Saturday, Nov. 29 to take on Detroit Mercy at 1 p.m. on Cotterell Court.