Box Score BALTIMORE – Randyll Butler was furious with herself.
The sophomore guard had stepped to the free-throw line in overtime, her team trailing by four, and missed both ends of a two-shot opportunity. Colgate's prospects were bleak, and Butler blamed herself.
"Coach tells us all the time that free throws win games," she said. "That's how we won the game against Army. So when I missed those free throws, I was just so upset with myself.
"But there was still time and we couldn't give up. We just had to keep fighting."
So Butler took matters into her own hands, scoring Colgate's final six points inside the last minute of overtime to lift the Raiders to a stunning 67-65 victory over Loyola.
The Raiders ended the game on an 8-0 run, and Butler capped Colgate's comeback with a 15-foot bank shot from that same infuriating free throw stripe just as the final horn was sounding.
"Lauryn gave me the handoff and kept it from being stolen," Butler said. "She gave me a nice pass and I just went for it (pictured below). I had a nice look and it went in."
Officials reviewed the video replay, but there was no question it would stand and the Raiders had their first overtime victory of the
Nicci Hays Fort coaching era. Colgate also won consecutive Patriot League games for the first time since Hays Fort's debut season of 2011-12.
"It was a great, gutty win," Colgate's head coach beamed. "We've said all along that we wanted to be playing our best basketball at the end, and we're playing a heck of a lot better now than we were in January."
Colgate with the triumph climbed past Loyola into ninth place in the Patriot League standings. The Raiders improved to 7-20 overall and 3-13 in conference, and they still have a chance to catch Lehigh for eighth place. Loyola fell to 5-22 and 2-14.
Contributions from SeveralButler led the Raiders in both scoring and rebounding, finishing with 13 and 11 to post her second career double-double. Both figures were collegiate highs for the Chicago sophomore.
No other Colgate player reached twin figures, but
Kelly Reid and
Catherine Lewis both scored nine,
Carole Harris,
Missy Repoli and
Josie Stockill eight apiece and
Mariah Jones added seven.
"We had good games from a lot of people," Hays Fort said. "Kelly had a big nine points and six rebounds; Carole didn't have her best offensive game, but she had nine rebounds, eight points and a big layup in overtime; Missy and C-Lew hit huge threes; Mariah scored seven in a row in the second half; Josie had eight points in 15 minutes;
Lauryn Kobiela (pictured below right) played almost the entire game and guarded their best player nearly the whole time, which is a tough matchup.
"The entire bench was in it; the entire team was in it."
There were two buzzer-beaters in this game, actually, as Loyola's Lauren Daugherty swished a rainbow 3-pointer at the end of regulation to tie it at 58-all. That stunner completed the home team's rally from 15 points down in the second half and handed the Greyhounds all the momentum heading into overtime.
Loyola took advantage and immediately scored the extra session's first five points. Harris finally ended Colgate's drought, but Daugherty answered and the Greyhounds led 65-59 with possession and only 1:40 remaining.
"They had just hit that three and had all the momentum," Hays Fort said. "It took us awhile to regroup, plus we were missing two of our starters (Reid and Jones had fouled out in regulation). We just needed to calm down and we would be OK."
The game swung for the last time when Harris forced a steal and went the distance to cut it to four. Loyola's Nai Brown – the game's leading scorer with 14 – missed twice in the paint and
Jackie Hudepohl grabbed the rebound. Butler at the other end drove for a layup with 59 seconds to play that sliced the lead to 65-63.
"That was the spark we needed," Butler said of the Harris steal. "They had the momentum in overtime and we really needed something in our favor. Once Carole made that play, we were like, 'OK, let's go.'"
Defensive OT PressureColgate forced another of its four overtime turnovers and Butler again drove to the hoop and scored to tie it at 65 with 32 ticks left. Loyola had a chance for the final shot but Butler forced a backcourt violation by Lisa Mirarchi, and Colgate would get the last at bat with 19 seconds left.
The Raiders called timeout.
"I wanted us to get the absolute last shot," Hays Fort said. "We did not want to give them any time to get a shot off. If it went to another overtime that would have been OK because we didn't have any foul trouble on the floor and they did.
"We kept going at Brown because she had four fouls. She was matched up with Randyll, but she couldn't stop her because she didn't want to pick up that fifth foul."
After the inbounds, Kobiela wound the clock inside 10 seconds from the top of the key and then drove to her left. She fought off a steal attempt by Brown and handed off to Butler, who this time found just enough space at the free-throw line for a final shot attempt.
The ball banked off the glass just as the buzzer was sounding, setting off a Colgate celebration not seen in Maroon women's basketball circles since last year's Patriot League Tournament stunner at Army.
"Oh, my gosh, when she hit that bank shot it looked like we had won the NCAA championship the way we were jumping around," said Reid, who fouled out with 58 seconds left in regulation and 14 seconds after Jones notched her fifth personal. "It was frustrating not being able to play and we were freaking out on the bench, but it was great to come out on top."
First-Half DisplayColgate owned the first half after an 11-0 run over a six-minute span pushed the Raiders in front 19-8. It was 31-22 at intermission as Butler already had seven rebounds.
The lead increased to 41-26 with 11:58 remaining before Loyola finally made its move. A 13-3 Greyhounds sprint cut it to 44-39 with 8:01 showing, and it was nip-and-tuck from there. Jones (pictured right) was scoreless until she tallied seven straight Raider points and the lead was back to 53-46 with 2:41 left.
Colgate kept the advantage and when Repoli was perfect on a pair of free throws with six seconds to play, the 58-55 margin appeared safe. But Mirarchi raced up court and found Daugherty, who lofted a perfect arc from the top of the key that found nothing but net.
Butler, however, made sure her buzzer-beater was the final gold star in a terrific basketball game.
The Raiders shot 34.3 percent (23-of-67) from the floor, including 5-of-12 from downtown. Colgate was 16-of-26 at the line and had 12 assists against 14 turnovers. Loyola shot 37.1 percent (23-of-62) from the field, including 4-of-15 from the arc. The Greyhounds were 15-of-21 at the line and had 13 assists against 19 turnovers.
Colgate claimed the rebounding edge for the second game in a row, 47-43.
Loyola's Brown added 10 boards to her 14 points, while Diana Logan scored 13 and Mirarchi 10.
Colgate plays Wednesday at Lafayette in a 7 p.m. start, and then the Raiders host Senior Day Saturday against Lehigh at 4 p.m.
