Box Score

LORETTO, Pa. – Nicci Hays Fort knew right away Colgate junior forward Carole Harris was headed for a special night.

"She starts the game off by hitting a three!" Hays Fort said after her team's 97-79 win over Saint Francis. Harris led the way with her first career double-double, sparked by a career-high 25 points and a season-high 10 rebounds.

Harris' early 3-pointer was just the second made basket of her career from beyond the arch and the first since 2011. Harris did not score in the last weekend's Cornell opener, and then put eight points on the board against St. Bonaventure.

Saturday, it all came together on 9-of-15 shooting from the floor and 6-of-6 free throws.

"She was all over the place on defense and just played ultra-confident all night long," Hays Fort said. "Carole had the kind of game she's capable of."

Colgate's team point total was its highest since a Nov. 29, 1997, home win over Canisius by the score of 100-90. The Raiders improved to 1-1 on this road this season and 1-2 overall.

"It was a great win for our team and a great road win," Hays Fort said. "We told our players that we're going to have to be road warriors and find a way to scrap for wins on the road in the Patriot League. We said, 'Let's start practicing that now.'

"The team really earned it."

High Scoring from Start
Colgate scored the game's first five and stretched that lead to 14-7 by the 15:32 mark. Harris and Josie Stockill were doing most of the early damage, combining for 12 of those 14 points.

The Raiders scored nine straight to make it 23-10 with 13:23 showing, and kept pouring it on. Mariah Jones made two free throws with 10:46 remaining in the first half and the score was already 34-19 on end-to-end action.

Hays Fort said it played right into Colgate's hands.

"Saint Francis is going to win games because they want to play up-tempo, create chaos and press, and not a lot of teams want to play that style," she said. "If we were not conditioned to play that style, we would have had problems.

"This is how we want to play and that's why we were able to capitalize. Saint Francis actually got tired and we were OK. It's all a credit to our depth."

Free throws continued to be Colgate's friend, especially in the first half. The Raiders were 22-of-28 in the opening 20 minutes alone, including 6-of-6 from both Jones and Harris. For the game, Colgate made 34 of 46 attempts.

Jones went on to make 11 of 12 from the line on her way to 13 points.

51-Point First Half
Three Catherine Lewis points in a seven-second span capped an 8-0 Colgate run that handed the Raiders their largest lead of the first half, 45-22, with 5:17 left. Colgate then coasted into the locker room break leading 51-31.

Saint Francis forward Alli Williams caught fire in the second half, scoring 26 of her game-high 30 points. But the Red Flash could draw no closer than 75-63 with 9:05 remaining on a Williams 3-pointer.

Colgate pushed the lead back to a game-high of 24 at 95-71 and still had 3:20 remaining to reach the century mark. But a pair of Missy Repoli free throws was all the Raiders could muster as they breezed to the finish and dealt the Red Flash their second straight loss to open the season.

Colgate shot 57 percent from the floor in the second half to finish at 43.3 percent for the game (29 of 67). Saint Francis finished at 31.4 percent on 27-of-86. The hosts launched 47 threes and made 16, compared to Colgate 5-of-16 shooting from long range. The Raiders made 34 of their 46 free throws for 73.9 percent. Rebounds were 57-53, Colgate.

The Saint Francis press led to 23 Colgate turnovers, which wasn't an abnormal number considering the number of possessions in the game. And Raider guards Jones and Lauryn Kobiela were able to handle the pressure for the most part.

"Mariah and Lauryn were warriors," Hays Fort said. "They were pressing us until the last possession of the game, and Lauryn played 29 minutes; Mariah played 24 minutes. They were the ones who were primarily responsible for bringing the ball up the court and they did a great job.

"I know Lauryn had nine turnovers, but some of those were judgment calls and we had so many possessions. Plus, she had nine assists; nine is a nice assist number."

Kelly Reid grabbed 10 boards to go with her eight points, while Paige Kriftcher had a 12-point game and Stockill scored 10.

"We had a lot of people who contributed," Hays Fort said. "If our team plays with the confidence they showed tonight, we're going to win a lot of basketball games."