WORCESTER, MASS. – Katie Curtis and Paige Kriftcher led Colgate Women's Basketball in a gritty performance here Wednesday night at Holy Cross but the Raiders fell just shy, 70-61.
 
Colgate led for 21:46 minutes and held a 53-50 lead going into the final quarter. Unfortunately, the Crusaders answered with a strong fourth period to ultimately hand Colgate a heartbreaking loss.
 
The Raiders saw Curtis tie the game at 61-all following her third and final 3-pointer of the night with two minutes left. On the next play, Colgate got the defensive stop it needed by forcing Holy Cross into a tough attempt from behind-the-arc. But the Raiders weren't able to grab the rebound as the hosts quickly pulled back in front six seconds later on a layup.
 
Colgate missed on the other end of the court and a 3-point dagger from Holy Cross' Katie Doherty ultimately sealed the Crusader victory.
 
Kriftcher finished with a game-high 22 points and was three shy of matching her career-best effort. In the third period alone, the senior notched 14 of her 22 and scored all but one of the Raiders point total during that quarter.
 
Curtis was two short of tying her career-high with 18 points, and she went a solid 7-for-8 from the charity stripe. She added five assists, which matched her career best, in her second 40-minute game of the year.
 
On the boards it was sophomore Julia Barcello pulling down seven rebounds to match her career high.
 
The Raiders matched their season-best effort from long range, going 9-for-19 for 47.4 percent shooting on the night. Both teams combined for 20 threes, which was the most between Colgate and an opponent all year.
 
Colgate hosts Navy on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Cotterell Court. The contest marks the Raiders' Play 4Kay Game and the team will be dressed in pink to support breast cancer awareness.
 
Bottom Line
• Holy Cross 70, Colgate 61
 
Won-Lost Records
• Colgate is now 4-16 overall and 2-8 in Patriot League play.
• Holy Cross improves to 9-12 and 6-4, respectively.
 
How It Happened
• Colgate came out battling in the opening period and despite trailing by four on two different occasions, took a 15-14 edge into the second quarter.
• The Raiders added on quickly in the second period with five straight, including a 3-point play from Kateri Stone, handing Colgate its largest lead in the game at 20-14.
• Holy Cross rallied with 4:30 remaining in the quarter to knot the score at 30-30. But then the Raiders used an 8-3 run of their own to finish the half and take a 38-33 lead into the break.
• Colgate again pushed its advantage to six points, two more times in the third period, with its last mark coming with 5:11 left to play.
• The Crusaders managed to get some contested shots to fall and tied the game for the fifth time at 50-50 with 19 seconds remaining.
• Kriftcher, who was having herself a nice little quarter, converted on a old fashioned 3-point play though to end the period and hand Colgate back its edge at 53-50 going into the final frame.
• Colgate maintained its 3-point lead with less than 8½ minutes on the clock. But the hosts kept the Raiders scoreless over the course of the next five minutes, using a 7-0 run, to pull in front 59-55.
• Nearly back-to-back treys from the Raiders though knotted the score at 61-all with exactly two minutes remaining.
• Unfortunately, Holy Cross notched an offensive board to keep their potential scoring chance alive and converted on a layup to take the 63-61 edge.   
• The Raiders tried to answer on the other end of the court but just missed on a layup.
• Another make from downtown by the hosts on the next possession ultimately handed the Crusaders the come-from-behind victory.
 
Facts & Figures
• Holy Cross outscored Colgate in the final two periods, including a 20-8 edge in the fourth quarter alone.
• Colgate shot 39.1 percent from the floor on 18-of-46 attempts. Holy Cross finished 22-of-68 from the floor for 32.4 percent shooting.
• The Raiders matched their season-best shooting night from long range, draining 9 of their 19 shots. Colgate also finished 16-for-23 from the charity stripe.
• Holy Cross went for a season-high 11 3-pointers and converted on 15 of its 21 attempts from the line.
• The Crusaders pulled down 45 rebounds to Colgate's 33 and held the slim 16-13 edge on assists. The Raiders committed 20 turnovers to their host's 11 and saw Holy Cross score 11 points off of second chance opportunities.
• Bench points were also swayed the Crusaders way at 23-8.
 
More Key Info
• Colgate's complete scoring column saw Kriftcher with 22, Curtis 18, Chelsey Koren 8, Josie Stockill 5, Stone 3, Mylah Chandler and Summer King 2 and Barcello 1.
• Curtis played 40 minutes for the second time this season. She's the only Raider to play wire-to-wire this year.
• With her 3-of-5 performance from 3-point distance as well she improved to 10-of-19 over her last four games. Curtis entered the game seventh in the Patriot League in 3-point percentage and is up to 41.3 for the season.
• The Indiana junior also had a career night at the free-throw line, going 7-of-8. Curtis is 16-of-18 over her last three games and up to 81.3 percent for the season. That number trails only Kriftcher, who was 4-of-5 in the game and leads the team at 84.4 percent for the season. 
• Kriftcher connected on 4-of-8 threes for her best performance from downtown since the 7-of-8 showing against Connecticut back on Dec. 9.
• The senior captain leads Colgate with 31 threes and now has 82 for her career. She needs 11 more to tie Candice Green, the team's Director of Basketball Operations for 10th all time.
• Barcello tied her career high with seven rebounds and has 12 boards in the last two games. The sophomore pulled down seven rebounds last year at Bucknell.
 
From the Sources
• Colgate head coach Nicci Hays Fort (On the game) "We played fantastic for 36½ minutes. We did a great job of attacking them and getting to the free throw line. We kept them in front of us and did a really great job on their big kids. We held their big kids to under 10 points total, but unfortunately we let their guards get freed up for some threes. We also had some miscommunication and got killed on the glass.
 
"We did so many good things like Katie Curtis' really gutsy performance. Paige Kriftcher had a great night as well. Her line was great with 22 points, five rebounds, and three assists. But unfortunately we weren't able to get the tough plays down the stretch that we needed to, especially being on the road.
 
(On taking the positives from this game and using it as momentum moving forward) "We've just got to take it upon ourselves to change it. It's not an offense; it's not a defense. We're so close, and once we get the 11 healthy players that we have to all buy into the little things that we need to do to close out games, then we are going to have a lot of success here at the end of the season. We've got to take all the good things and then we've got to work on the things that fell apart there in the last three minutes of the game."

Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at the Hart Center was 876.
 
Up Next
• Colgate plays again Saturday afternoon against Navy. That contest is scheduled for a 4 p.m. tip on Cotterell Court.  
• The Raiders dropped a 51-41 decision to the Mids earlier this year.
• Navy plays at Boston University on Thursday before facing off with the Raiders on Saturday.
• Live stats and video will be available at the start.