Repoli missed the final 11 games of her sophomore campaign with an injury, but she was 6-of-7 from the field – including 3-of-3 from long range – and a perfect 4-of-4 from the line against the Saints.
Mariah Jones (pictured right) helped handle things from the point, scoring eight and dishing out seven assists. The Raiders as a team finished with 19 assists to just the 14 turnovers.
"Our defense was really good tonight," said the junior guard. "We were in the passing lanes and denying like we've been practicing, and we really got a lot of deflections and steals off our defense.
"That brought a lot of energy."
A few of Jones' feeds on the offensive end found sophomore
Paige Kriftcher (pictured lower right), who tallied 16 points. Kriftcher's official career high remains at 13 from her rookie season (exhibition numbers don't count), but the Long Island product sees herself as a different player in Season 2.
"Over the summer I gained a lot more confidence, got a lot stronger," said Kriftcher, who added five of Colgate's 16 steals. "Because I got so much stronger, I'm definitely getting to the rim easier. I'm trying not to rely just on my outside shot."
First-Half Run Ends It
Colgate scored the first half's final seven points and closed on a 35-12 run to double the score at 46-23 by intermission. St. Lawrence never drew any closer and the Raiders slowly expanded their lead.
Kelly Reid added 10 points to go with seven boards, tying
Randyll Butler for game honors in rebounding. Butler chipped in four assists, while
Josie Stockill scored nine and freshman
Katie Curtis seven. Colgate's other two first-year players –
Jackie Hudepohl and
Steph Poland – added two points and two rebounds apiece.
Starters
Catherine Lewis and
Carole Harris combined for seven points, eight rebounds and five steals.
"We had a lot of good continuity tonight," Jones said. "There was no letdown when the nonstarters came in, so that was really good for them and for us as a team. Everybody gets a lot of playing time and everybody gets comfortable on a game day.
"Games like these are good for us to see where we are."
One holdover from last season appears to be free-throw shooting. The Raiders last November led the nation from the charity stripe before finishing at 71.2 percent.
Friday night against St. Lawrence, Colgate made its final 19 free throws to finish 21-of-23 for the game. Eight of the 11 players dressed for the game contributed.
Colgate opens the regular season next Friday at Cornell in a 7 p.m. start. The home opener is Nov. 10 against St. Bonaventure in a 2 p.m. tip.
