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HAMILTON – Bucknell placed two players over the 20-point mark and rode a hot-shooting first half to an 88-72 victory over Colgate here Sunday.

The Raiders, now 4-9 overall and 0-2 in the Patriot League, were playing their first home game in 32 days – which may have been one of the reasons the Bison appeared just as familiar with the Cotterell Court nets as Colgate did.

Bucknell shot 55 percent from the floor over the first 20 minutes en route to a 46-33 halftime edge. In Thursday's opening round of conference play, Bucknell scored only 40 points for the entire game in a loss at American.

Sunday's game got away when the Bison outscored Colgate 23-9 over the final 7:45 of the first half, turning a 24-23 Raiders lead into the 13-point halftime deficit. Bucknell added insult to injury by starting the second half on a 7-0 run, completing a 30-9 spurt.

"They started trying to jam the ball inside," Colgate head coach Nicci Hays Fort said. "They were doing a great job attacking us with the high-low. We didn't do a great job of defending the high-low and didn't do a good job on rotation.

"It was probably my fault in the first half for not changing up the defense sooner because (Claire) DeBoer and (Audrey) Dotson really dominated us. We didn't have an answer for them."

DeBoer finished with a career-high 24 points and Dotson added 20 for her fifth 20-point game this season.

"Dotson and DeBoer did a great job of sealing, posting and finishing, quite honestly," Hays Fort said. "We didn't do a good job with everything from our ball-pressure to our schemes and missed assignments.

"That one run is all it took."

Foul Trouble
Colgate not only was still missing the services of the injured Kelly Reid for the third straight game, but in this one key guard Mariah Jones (pictured right) played only 11 of the 40 minutes because of foul trouble throughout.

Jones, who averages 25 minutes, played just five minutes in the first half before fouling twice, and then was whistled for No. 3 just 21 seconds after the break. She scored all 10 of her points in the final 5:48 of the second period.

Both Jones and Carole Harris fouled out for the Raiders.

A bright spot for Colgate was a career-high 17 points from Josie Stockill. The New Zealand sophomore had her parents and brother in the stands and was 6-of-10 from the floor, 5-of-6 from the line, with seven rebounds (five offensive).

"Josie did a great job by focusing and finishing," Hays Fort said. "She was very active on the offensive glass – we've been challenging her to be active. Obviously it was a much better performance from Josie down low and we need that from her every game now."

Bucknell's largest lead was 75-52 with 7:53 remaining. The Raiders pulled within 12 points on four different occasions in the final 2½ minutes but couldn't come any closer.

"We got better throughout the game," Hays Fort said. "In the second half, we really fought to make it difficult for them to get the ball inside and we fought for rebounds. I was proud of them."

Paige Kriftcher (pictured right) returned to the double-figure scoring column for the third time this season with 11 points, her high since scoring 12 back on Nov. 16 at Saint Francis. She was 3-of-6 from downtown and also had career highs in rebounds (4) and steals (3).

Taylor Returns
Harris had eight points and six boards, while Lauryn Kobiela scored eight and dished out five assists. Scoring five points each were Jackie Hudepohl (11 the last two games), Kathryn Taylor and Missy Repoli, who added a career-high four assists. Catherine Lewis made one 3-pointer.

For Taylor, Sunday marked her first action this season after an extended rehab assignment. In just four minutes, she was 1-of-2 from the field and 3-of-4 from the line to go with three boards. Taylor's five points scored were her most since scoring six against Holy Cross nearly two years ago.

In addition to Bucknell's top two scorers, guard Shelby Romine added a solid double-double with 12 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. The Bison improved to 6-6 overall and 1-1 in the Patriot League.

Bucknell finished at 48 percent (28-of-58) from the floor to Colgate's 35 percent (24-of-68). The Raiders were 6-of-24 from 3-point distance, while Bucknell was 4-of-14. Free throws favored Bucknell, which finished 28-of-38 to Colgate's 18-of-25.

Colgate grabbed a 45-42 rebounding edge but committed 17 turnovers to 15 for the Bison. Points in the paint went Bucknell's way, 42-18, while Colgate claimed a 26-12 edge in bench scoring.

The Raiders host Holy Cross (10-3, 2-0) in a Wednesday conference matchup. Start time from Cotterell Court is 7 p.m.



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