Box Score

HAMILTON – Good riddance!

Colgate said a hearty goodbye to a 10-game losing streak here Wednesday, capturing its first Patriot League victory of the season with a 58-51 triumph over Bucknell.

Josie Stockill scored 14 points to lead four players in double figures for the Raiders, who won for the first time since Jan. 3. Colgate improved to 7-17 overall and 1-8 in conference.

Jhazmine Lynch and Lulu Brase added 11 points apiece, while Randyll Butler continued her standout play of late with a season high 10.

“Hopefully, this will be like a huge 3,000-pound weight off their shoulders,” Colgate head coach Nicci Hays Fort said of her team's spirits. “This should give us just a little bit of inner confidence knowing that we can make plays down the stretch.”

Colgate did make the plays when it counted, especially the freshman Butler, who was all over the floor and filled up the stat sheet like a grizzled veteran.

“We were just out here for each other trying to get this win,” said Butler, who chipped in seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and was 2-of-4 from 3-point range. She's a combined 3-of-5 from downtown the last two games after going 0-of-3 over her first 21 appearances.

“Coach wanted us to go out there, have fun and be aggressive – and this game definitely was fun,” Butler said. “You could tell everyone was having a good time and the competitiveness was there. We got over the hump and now we're just going to keep pushing.”

Bench Points 28-0
Butler joined Stockill and Carole Harris to lead a 28-0 bench scoring onslaught, Colgate's most lopsided result from its reserves this season. And they needed every point in a game that featured eight ties and eight lead changes.

“We just wanted them to be a spark,” Hays Fort said. “You don't have to be perfect, but you've got to be a spark, whether it's on defense or rebounding. And you don't have to make every shot, but you've got to make something happen.”

Lynch ignited the evening's good vibes by connecting on her first shot of the game, a 3-pointer from the top of the key. The senior guard missed all 11 of her field goal attempts Saturday against American and wore the collar for the first time all season, but she bounced back Wednesday with her 11th double-figure scoring effort.

She also contributed on the defensive end, helping hold Bucknell point guard Shelby Romine to 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting.

“Our defensive strategy was to try to get the ball out of Romine's hands,” Lynch said. “I'm not sure how good of a job I did, but we played good team defense.”

Colgate fell behind 12-7 but rallied thanks to a stout defensive effort and Brase's solid scoring in the first half. The senior center chalked up nine of her 11 points in the opening period, and Colgate held the Bison scoreless for 5 minutes and 14 seconds to take a 23-20 advantage into halftime.

Playing from Ahead
It was Colgate's first intermission lead in 32 days. The Raiders hadn't been ahead at the break since Jan. 12 at American, a stretch of eight straight games trailing at halftime.

“We treated it as a 0-0 game,” Hays Fort said of the locker room talk. “Good teams get a lead and they don't give it up, so we wanted to act like it was the start of a game.”

But it was Bucknell that made the initial move of the second half, sprinting on top 30-26 by the 17:10 mark. Alyssa Dunn scored six and Felicia Mgbada four during this stretch, and both players finished with 14 points to match Stockill for game honors.

Stockill at this stage was just getting started. The freshman forward had two points at the time but scored the game's next six to push Colgate in front 32-30. The New Zealander tallied 12 of her 14 points after halftime.

“My teammates worked really hard and I happened to be in the right place at the right time,” Stockill said. “It took a bit of fighting and strength there in the post, but my teammates passed the ball really well to me when I was open.”

Stockill matched her season high of 14 points and tied for game honors with seven boards. She also rejected three Bison shots to push her season total to 30, and was a perfect 4-of-4 at the free-throw line.

“I just started looking to post up more and asking for the ball,” Stockill said of her late surge. “It wasn't really a plan.”

Kelly Reid contributed a pair of slicing layups on back-to-back possessions and Colgate opened its biggest lead in ages at 46-40 with seven minutes remaining. Butler then turned in a driving layup that became an and-one, which she converted for a 49-42 cushion at the 5:26 mark.

Raiders With the Answers
The next time Butler drove the lane, Bucknell collapsed on the Chicago guard. But she dished instead to a wide-open Stockill all alone under the hoop. Stockill laid it home for a 51-43 advantage with 4:11 remaining.

“Big game for that kid; really big game,” Hays Fort said of Butler. “She made some huge plays down the stretch. Her drives to the basket when she was able to find Josie – it was a huge game for her.

“She's getting more confident and she's a competitor.”

Bucknell scored four straight points to cut the lead to 51-47, but Lynch answered with a jumper off an inbounds pass to just beat the shot clock. She followed that with a driving, twisting, off-balance layup that found the bottom of the sack and pushed the lead back to 55-47 with only 1:47 remaining.

Butler added a big rebound inside a minute to play, then blocked a Bucknell 3-point try. She was fouled with 9.9 seconds remaining and made the first free throw for a 56-51 lead. She missed the second, but Reid hustled the rebound and the deed was done.

The streak was over.

“Kelly Reid's free-throw rebound – huge, huge,” Hays Fort said. “She had two great, great finishes in the second half and had some huge rebounds. She just didn't get a lot of minutes because of foul trouble.

“But those two buckets she made and that rebound at the end were huge for our team.”

The Raiders won the rebounding battle 46-36. They shot 35.5 percent for the game on 22-of-62, but the second half was better than 40 percent at 13-of-32. Colgate was 3-of-20 from behind the arc and 11-of-14 at the line.

Mariah Jones scored only two points but had a career-high seven assists for Colgate. Reid added six points and seven boards, while Harris chipped in four points off the bench.

Bucknell, now 13-11 and 4-5 in the Patriot League, made 16 of 50 field goal attempts for 32 percent. The Bison connected on only 1 of 10 3-point tries. Bucknell was 18-of-27 at the line and committed 14 turnovers to 15 for the homesiders.

The Bison have lost four in a row after a 4-1 conference start.

Colgate plays Saturday at Lehigh in a 7 p.m. tip.

“Tonight is what we needed to push through for the rest of the league schedule,” Lynch said. “Going into Lehigh, we owe them a little something and this is a confidence booster.”