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HAMILTON – A back-and-forth affair against Navy eventually went to the Mids in a 62-58 defeat of Colgate in the Play 4Kay Pink Game.
The Raiders led 48-46 entering the fourth quarter and pushed that lead to 51-48 on a
Josie Stockill 3-point play with 8:52 remaining. But an 11-1 Navy run turned the tables, and Colgate's late rally fell just short.
Paige Kriftcher led three Raiders in double figures with 15 points in a career-high 37 minutes.
Katie Curtis added 14 points and Stockill 11, while sophomore
Julia Barcello turned in career highs with six points and a team-leading nine rebounds.
Navy was led by Peri Curtis' career-high 17 points and Ashanti Kennedy's 10 rebounds.
Colgate's big advantage in the game was its free-throw shooting. The Raiders were 16-of-19 and improved to 72.0 percent for the season. Colgate actually is at 71.97, or just shy of the record of 72.02 set last year.
The Raiders over their last six games are 87-of-114 for 76.3 percent.
Colgate is home again Wednesday against Army West Point in a 7 p.m. tip.
Bottom Line
• Navy 62, Colgate 58
Won-Lost Records• Colgate is now 4-17 overall and 2-9 in the Patriot League.
• Navy improved to 11-11 and 5-6.
How It Happened• Barcello struck for six first-quarter points to eclipse her career high in the opening 10 minutes.
• There were six ties in the first period, the last coming on Kriftcher's buzzer-beating 3-pointer that made it 18-18.
• Colgate jumped to a 29-23 lead on a Curtis free throw with 4:25 remaining.
• But Navy finished the half on a 9-2 run to take a 32-31 edge into the locker room. Kriftcher was the game's scoring leader to that point with 11.
•
Chelsey Koren's seventh consecutive made 3-pointer (over a five-game stretch) pushed Colgate in front 36-34 with 7:57 left in the third.
• Colgate built its second six-point lead of the game at 48-42 when Stockill converted a 3-point play with 1:14 showing.
• Another Stockill 3-point play early in the fourth quarter kept Colgate in front 51-48 with 8:52 to play in the game.
• That's when Navy struck the decisive run, outscoring the Raiders 11-1 including 7-0 to finish and go in front 59-52 with 3:02 remaining.
• When
Kateri Stone's 3-point attempt from the right wing rattled but wouldn't fall with Colgate trailing 59-54 at the 1:20 mark, it looked like the Raiders were cooked for sure.
• But Colgate kept fighting, scoring four more points in a row and pulling within 59-58 after two free throws by
Ariel Etheridge with 32 seconds remaining.
• But Navy's Sarita Condie reversed a horrible Mids performance at the free-throw line by sinking two and pushing the lead back to three points.
• Colgate's last chance saw Stockill's open 3-point field goal attempt from the top of the key hit the right iron. Stockill wasn't Colgate's first choice to take that three, but she was 5-of-15 this season to that point and the shot just didn't fall.
Facts & Figures• There were 11 ties and 11 lead changes.
• Colgate nearly won this seesaw battle at the free-throw line.
• The Raiders were 16-of-19 to Navy's 4-of-11, and three of those Midshipmen conversions came in the final 23 seconds.
• Navy did shoot 42.6 percent from the field to Colgate's 34.5 percent. The Mids also owned a 45-31 rebounding edge, including a 13-8 margin in the decisive fourth quarter.
• Colgate committed 14 turnovers to 16 for Navy, and the Raiders had a 17-12 edge in points-off-turnovers.
• The Raiders led by six points twice – 29-23 and 48-42 – while Navy's largest lead was 59-52 late.
• This was Colgate's narrowest lost of the season. More Key Info• The Colgate scoring column looked like this: Kriftcher 15, Curtis 14, Stockill 11, Barcello 6, Stone 4, Koren 3, Etheridge 3 and
Tori Pozsonyi 2.
• Colgate had the only two blocked shots in the game, with one apiece for Stockill and
Mylah Chandler.
• Stockill grabbed seven rebounds. To go with her 11 points, she's now 54 points shy of reaching 1,000 for her career and 35 rebounds from entering Colgate's all-time top 10.
• Kriftcher's one 3-pointer ups her career total to 83. She needs 10 more to tie
Candice Green for 10th all time.
• Kriftcher in her last three games has played 36, 36 and now 37 minutes.• Curtis continued her hot outside shooting. The junior guard was 2-of-3 from beyond the arc and is up to 42.4 percent for the season.
• She has made 15-of-27 over her last seven games (55.6 percent) and entered Saturday's game seventh in the Patriot League in 3-point percentage.
From the Source•
Colgate head coach Nicci Hays Fort (On the game): "We did a lot of great things but, unfortunately, we just gave up too many rebounds in that fourth quarter. Navy did some really good things that we just couldn't counter.
"Our kids fought like crazy.
Julia Barcello came in and got nine rebounds for us – that's awesome. We just need people to keep stepping up like Julia's doing. We've got to stay faithful to what we're trying to do and not be fearful of outcomes."
Gate Grab Bag• Attendance at Cotterell Court was 925, third-largest of the season behind the Connecticut sellout and the Holy Cross kids day.
• Saturday was Colgate's annual Play 4Kay Pink Game and National Girls and Women in Sports Day. The Raiders wore their pink-trimmed uniforms and hosted a free 60-minute clinic after the game.
• Hays Fort is donating $458 to the Play 4Kay Foundation after the Raiders made four 3-pointers ($100 each) and scored 58 points ($1 each).
• Stockill before the game was presented with a commemorative game ball for her Dec. 22 performance at Lafayette. That night, the senior captain blocked 13 shots to break the Colgate and Patriot League game records and eclipse the Colgate career mark.
Up Next• Colgate plays Wednesday night against Army.
• The Black Knights are 19-2 overall and 10-1 in the Patriot League, tied for first-place with Bucknell. They won Saturday 52-44 at Loyola.
• Army defeated Colgate 67-56 last month in West Point.
• Tipoff Wednesday is 7 p.m.
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