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HAMILTON – Paige Kriftcher's jumper from just inside the free-throw line bounded in with 2.4 seconds left to hand Colgate a 52-50 win over Siena here Monday.
 
The Raiders had to stave off a last-second Saints effort to tie after the visitors advanced the ball to the front court through this year's rule change. But Siena's Emmanuella Edoka missed a layup attempt and then teammate Meghan Donohue grabbed the rebound just as the horn sounded.
 
Her put-back attempt was ruled no good by the officials at the time and then confirmed through the use of instant replay.
 
Colgate opened the game with its best first quarter of the season and led 23-19. But despite scoring just 29 points the rest of the way, the Raiders managed their second straight win to improve to 3-8.
 
The game was tied 43-43 at the end of three quarters and then Colgate limited the visitors to just seven points over the final 10 minutes.
 
Ariel Etheridge scored 11 points in the first quarter and led the Raiders with a career-high 13. Kriftcher scored 11, while Josie Stockill added nine points and a career-tying 15 rebounds to go with four more blocked shots.
 
Stockill earlier in the day was named the Lids Team Sports Patriot League Player of the Week for her performance last Tuesday at Lafayette.
 
Siena's Jackie Benitez led all scorers with 16 points despite fouling out with 35 seconds remaining.
 
Colgate returns to Patriot League play Saturday when American visits Cotterell Court for a 4 p.m. tip.
 
Bottom Line
• Colgate 52, Siena 50
 
Won-Lost Records
• Colgate improved to 3-8 with its second straight victory.
• Siena dropped to 4-7.
 
How It Happened
• For the second game in a row, Colgate started fast.
• The Raiders posted their highest-scoring first quarter to open a 23-19 lead over the Saints. Last week at Lafayette, Colgate scored 19 for what was then their best opening period of the season.
• Etheridge was a catalyst, scoring 11 in a 4:08 stretch that began midway in the period.
• But Siena rallied to the halftime lead by holding Colgate to just six points in the second quarter. The Saints led 32-29 at intermission.
• Colgate pulled even 43-43 by the end of the third quarter. There were five ties in this period and the lead changed hands another five times.
• In the fourth, Tori Pozsonyi scored an early basket and then Kriftcher added a pair of free throws to make it 47-43 Colgate with 8:22 remaining.
• Siena didn't get on the board in the fourth quarter until Deja Rawls' basket with 4:53 remaining, but Colgate's was in the middle of its own scoring drought.
• The Saints went back in front 48-47 before Stockill halted the scoreless streak with two free throws with 2:21 left. Colgate had gone six minutes without a point but only been outscored 5-0.
• Another Stockill free throw (she made 1-of-2) with 35 seconds left upped Colgate's lead to 50-48, but Siena tied it when Donohue sank both ends of a two-shot foul to tie it for the 12th and final time.
• For the winning score, Kriftcher took a handoff from Randyll Butler and swung through the center circle. She brushed off a nice Stockill screen and found just enough space for her 14-footer, which hit two rims and a backboard before trickling through the net.
• Siena's last attempt was a lob to Edoka, who pumped and then shot too strongly from the left edge of the 3-second lane. Donohue was on the spot for the rebound but her put-back was too late.
 
Facts & Figures
• This was Colgate's first home win of the season after losses to Monmouth (overtime), Connecticut, Gonzaga and St. Bonaventure.
• Etheridge topped her previous scoring high of nine by the end of the first quarter, tallying 11 of Colgate's 23 points. She made three 3-pointers and had another wiped out by a traveling call.
• One game after scoring 27 points and blocking 13 shots in a big road win at Lafayette, Stockill tied her career high with 15 rebounds as the Raiders broke even on the boards (43-43).
• Stockill, who celebrates her 22nd birthday Tuesday, added four blocked shots in the game and is the Patriot League's active blocked-shot leader at 186. She 10th on the Patriot League career list and leads Army's Aimee Oertner at 182 and Holy Cross' Molly Hourigan at 173.
• Colgate (22) topped 20 turnovers for the fourth time this season, but Monday was the first win.
• With Etheridge's 13 points, five different Raiders have now led the team in scoring.
• Kriftcher's late heroics pushed her point total (11) into double-figures for the eighth time this season, a figure that leads the team.
• Colgate defeated Siena for just the second time in 18 meetings. All but four of those contests took place during the 1980s, but the Raiders still snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Saints.
• The previous Colgate win was 64-53 back on Feb. 5, 1987.
 
More Key Info
• Colgate's scoring went like this: Etheridge 13, Kriftcher 11, Stockill 9, Kateri Stone 8, Butler 7, Pozsonyi 2 and Katie Curtis 2.
• Stone registered a career-high three steals, and Curtis was the assist leader with three. She and Butler contributed two steals apiece.
• Colgate shot 32.7 percent from the floor and was 6-of-21 from 3-point distance. Siena shot 24.6 percent and was 4-of-11 from long range.
• The Raiders were 10-of-12 at the line for their best game of the season (minimum 5 attempts).
• There were 12 ties in the game and 14 lead changes.
• Colgate's bench contributed a 21-5 scoring advantage, but the Saints outscored the home team 16-2 in second-chance points and held a 19-9 edge in points-off-turnovers.
 
Turning Point
• Had to be the final 2:21.
• Colgate weathered a six-minute scoring drought with tough defense, and then Stockill made 3-of-4 free throws to put the Raiders back in front by two.
• After Siena tied it 50-50, Kriftcher came through with the winning bucket in the final 2.4.
• It was just Colgate's second field goal of the quarter, but it was just enough.
 
From the Source
• Colgate head coach Nicci Hays Fort (On the game): "It was a great team win for us. It wasn't as pretty as the Lafayette game, but it was a gritty win. It was a little ugly, but we need to win ugly sometimes.
 
(On the fast start) "Ariel Etheridge came in really hot and made some big threes. We needed all of those threes that she made. We cooled off a little bit; unfortunately, just a lot of turnovers.
 
"But we needed that first quarter to be good and we keep on challenging our players to come out with a quick and efficient start – and they did."
 
Listen to the rest of Hays Fort's comments HERE.
 
• Colgate guard Ariel Etheridge (On her start): "My teammates were hitting me with great passes and the ball movement was great. The shots haven't been falling, but today helped a little bit getting my confidence back up. My teammates have been really supportive."
 
Listen to the rest of Etheridge's comments HERE.
 
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at Cotterell Court was 516.
 
Up Next
• Colgate returns to Patriot League play Saturday against American.
• The Eagles are 2-9 heading into their Wednesday conference opener at Loyola.
• Tipoff Saturday from Cotterell Court is 4 p.m. The Patriot League Network carries the livestream.

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