The Raiders will wrap up their three-game home stand on Wednesday when they take on Lafayette at 7 p.m. on Cotterell Court. The squad will then make their way down to Washington, D.C. to face American on Saturday, Feb. 13 at 2 p.m.

 

Lafayette is looking to end a five-game losing streak with their last win coming against Navy, 46-43, back on Jan. 16. The Leopards most recent loss came at the hands of Holy Cross, 50-47, on Saturday, Feb. 6.  After trailing by as many as nine points, Lafayette cut the lead to three with six seconds remaining, but couldn't complete the comeback. The Leopards are currently 4-18 overall with a 2-6 mark in the Patriot League. Juniors Lauren Jackson and LaKeisha Wright lead Lafayette's offense. Jackson tops the scoring column with 10.4 points per game while Wright contributes 10.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. Elizabeth Virgin follows her classmates contributing 8.4 points and a team-high 4.7 boards per game along with 1.3 steals. Melissa Downey leads the team in assists averaging 2.7 per outing. Head coach Tammy Smith is in her ninth season at the helm of the Lafayette women's basketball program after leading the 2008-09 team to the conference championship game, becoming the first-ever No. 7 seed to reach that mark.

American suffered its first Patriot League loss this past weekend falling to defending conference champ Lehigh, 53-46, in Bethlehem, Pa. The loss ended an eight game winning streak which included an overtime victory in their first meeting with Lehigh. The two teams are now tied for first place in the league with a record of 7-1, while American holds an overall record of 14-8. Junior Michelle Kirk leads both the Eagles and the Patriot League in scoring tallying an average of 18.7 points per game to go with 5.2 rebounds. Classmate Liz Leer follows with 12.6 points and 5.9 boards per game to go along with a league high 52 blocks this season. Senior Ohemaa Hyanin leads the Eagles in rebounding with 6.0 per game while sophomore Raven Harris has a team-high 3.6 assists and 2.2 steals per game. Matt Corkery is in his second year as head coach of the women's program after leading the Eagles to a 19-12 overall mark during the 2008-09 season. Corkery brought American to their second consecutive postseason appearance last year falling to James Madison, 61-59, in the first round of the WNIT.

The Raiders are in a four-way tie for fourth place in the Patriot League after defeating Army, 61-47 on Saturday, Feb. 6. With the win, Colgate improved to 3-5 in the league and 8-14 overall. The win against Army was their first since January 2006 and came a week after the Raiders took down Navy, 56-54, to give them their first back-to-back Patriot League wins since the 2006-07 season. On offense, Colgate spread the points around. Freshman Jhazmine Lynch (San Diego, Calif.) led the way with 15 points, while sophomore Candice Green (East Brunswick, N.J.) added 11 and senior Katie Garman (Poplar Grove, Ill.) scored eight. Garman also led the way in rebounds, with seven boards on the afternoon. Colgate's defense was stifling in the first half. They held Army to just 16.7% shooting (5-30) and only 14 points. The Raiders went to the halftime break with a commanding 36-14 lead. Colgate was then able to withstand a strong second half charge from the Black Knights to hold on for the victory.

 

 

 

Lafayette – The Leopards hold a slight lead in the all-time series, 29-25. The Raiders are 2-1 in the last three meetings against Lafayette, splitting last season's series and defeating the Leopards, 71-63, in their most recent meeting on Jan. 13, 2010. Junior Tayler Wejnert (Ramsey, N.J.) and rookie Jhazmine Lynch led Colgate in that match-up scoring 14 points apiece with Wejnert adding four rebounds and Lynch dishing our four assists. Sophomore Tricia Oakes (Evergreen, Colo.) tallied 12 points followed by Sami Kozlowski (New Market, Md.) with 10 while Candice Green (East Brunswick, N.J.) picked up a team-high eight boards. Both teams shot 40.8 percent from the field while Colgate went 27-36 from the free throw line.

 

American - The Raiders will face the Eagles for the 23rd time in series history with American holding a 16-6 all-time advantage. Colgate's last win against American was in 2007 when the Raiders downed the Eagles, 66-53, at Cotterell Court. Senior Katie Garman and freshman Jhazmine Lynch led the Raider with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Sami Kozlowski and Candice Green added nine points apiece. American's Michelle Kirk led all scorers with 26 points while Ebony Edwards pulled down a game-high eight rebounds. Colgate shot 44.7 percent (21-47) for the day and 50.0 percent in the first half. American went 31-62 (50.0 percent) from the floor including 16-27 (59.3 percent) in the opening half.

Colgate women's basketball freshman Jhazmine Lynch was named the Patriot League/Anaconda Rookie of the Week for the week ending Sunday, Feb. 7. This marks the third time this season that the Raiders point guard has received the weekly honor. Lynch led Colgate to a 61-47 victory against Army on Saturday, Feb. 6, their first victory against the Black Knights since 2006. She scored a team-high 15 points and pulled down six rebounds while shooting 5-12 from the floor and 5-7 from the free throw line. Lynch is third on the team in scoring averaging 9.4 points along 1.9 assists and a team high 1.6 steals per game.

The Raiders return 10 players to this year's squad, including four starters from the 2008-09 season. Junior Tayler Wejnert returns to the Colgate squad after appearing in 20 games last season. Wejnert led the team in scoring averaging 11.7 points per game, followed by fellow junior Sami Kozlowski who averaged 9.7 points and led the team in steals with 33 in 30 starts with the Raiders. Tricia Oakes led Colgate on the boards as a freshman, pulling down 6.0 rebounds in 22 games. Sophomore Candice Green also started in all 30 games for the Raiders last season averaging 6.5 points and 2.5 rebounds.

 

The Colgate women's basketball team was picked to finish seventh in the 2010 Patriot League preseason coaches and sports information directors poll. Defending champion Lehigh was selected to repeat this year, with 97 total points and 13-first place votes.  Following the Mountain Hawks in order are American (76, 3 first-place), Holy Cross (76), Navy (54), Bucknell (52), Army (50), Colgate (22) and Lafayette (21). Lehigh's Erica Prosser was chosen as the Preseason Player of the Year. 

 

Colgate welcomed three freshmen to this year's squad, center Lulu Brase of Lake Wylie, S.C., guard Jhazmine Lynch of San Diego, Calif., and guard Rebekah Ward of Montreal, Que.  

 

The Raiders will face the other top team in the league when they take on Lehigh on Wednesday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. in Bethlehem, Pa. Then on Saturday, Feb. 20 Colgate will host Bucknell for its Pink Zone game at 2 p.m. on Cotterell Court.

 

 Don't forget Saturday, Feb. 20 is the Raiders' Pink Zone Game for Breast Cancer Awareness. Head women's basketball coach Pam Bass will donate $1 to cancer research for every fan in attendance!