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HAMILTON – For Paige Kriftcher and the Colgate Raiders, Wednesday was one of those nights when the ball simply bounced their way.
 
Kriftcher scored 27 points and Josie Stockill added 22 to lead Colgate to an 82-72 win over Lehigh that vaulted the Raiders into a Patriot League Tournament First-Round home game.
 
Colgate hosts Lafayette this Saturday at 4 p.m.
 
Kriftcher made five of 11 3-point field goal attempts, including one in the third quarter that bounced on the rim four times before settling into the net. The senior captain now has 50 3-pointers for the season and 101 for her career.
 
Stockill, meanwhile, was 7-of-10 from the field and a perfect 8-of-8 from the free-throw line. Colgate as a team was 18-of-20 at the stripe to continue its blistering pace over the last month.
 
Julia Barcello matched her career high from Saturday with 11 rebounds for the second straight game, while Katie Curtis added 12 points and six assists.
 
The Raiders put 50 points on the board in the middle two quarters, scoring 28 and 22 on their way to a season high 82 for the game. The 48.2-percent shooting touch for the contest also was a season high by six percentage points.
 
Lexi Martins led Lehigh with 18 points and 12 rebounds. With Wednesday's total, Martins broke the Patriot League season record for rebounds and now has 400. She also leads Division I with a 13.8 rebounding average.
 
Bottom Line
• Colgate 82, Lehigh 72
 
Won-Lost Records
• Colgate improved to 6-22 overall and 4-14 in the Patriot League.
• Lehigh is now 17-12 and 10-8.
 
Ticket Information
• Tickets for Saturday's 4 p.m. Patriot League Tournament game at Cotterell Court go on sale Thursday morning at 9 a.m.
• The ticket office is open until 2 p.m. Thursday for phone (315-228-7600) or in-person orders.
• Tickets also are available via BleedColgateMaroon.com.
• Prices are $8 for adults and $4 for seniors (ages 65+). Children 3 and younger are free.
• Check with the ticket office for group pricing options.
• Doors to the Reid Athletic Center and ticket booth open Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
• Information about Colgate student and faculty/staff tickets will be released Thursday.
 
How It Happened
• Colgate started the game 3-of-5 from the field but then went cold. The Raiders missed their last 10 shots of the first quarter and didn't make a field goal the final seven minutes.
• Yet they trailed only 16-10.
• Colgate turned that poor shooting completely on its head in the second quarter, hitting 11-of-14 for the period and making six of its last seven. A 15-6 run to finish the half put the Raiders in front, 38-34.
• Included was a 5-of-6 showing from 3-point distance, with Kriftcher and Curtis cashing in two apiece and Mylah Chandler adding her second trey of the year.
• Colgate's 28-point total was its best second quarter of the season and second-best quarter of any kind. Only a 29-point fourth in the season opener at Kent State was better.
• The Raiders kept the pressure up to start the third quarter, building their lead to as large as 58-39 on a pair of Ariel Etheridge free throws with 2:10 showing.
• Lehigh rallied with an 8-0 run, but two Stockill free throws in the closing seconds made it 60-47 Raiders heading to the fourth.
• Lehigh pulled as close as seven in the final two minutes, but Colgate's free-throw shooting kept the Mountain Hawks at bay.
• The Raiders were 13-of-14 at the line in the second half and 18-of-20 for the game.
 
Facts & Figures
• For the third straight year, Colgate ended its regular season with a win over Lehigh. The Raiders won 63-61 here two years ago and 61-60 last season in Bethlehem.
• Colgate's previous season scoring high came in an 86-80 overtime loss to Monmouth back on Nov. 22.
• The team's best shooting performance before Wednesday was 42.2 percent in a Dec. 5 win at LIU Brooklyn.
• The Raiders are now 4-1 when leading at halftime, and 4-4 when scoring at least 70 points.
• Colgate won the rebounding column 34-33, and committed 13 turnovers to 14 for Lehigh.
 
More Key Info
• Colgate's scoring went like this: Kriftcher 27, Stockill 22, Curtis 12, Etheridge 9, Chandler 6, Barcello 4 and Chelsey Koren 2.
• Barcello led the team in rebounds for the fifth time this season, matching her career high with 11. She's averaging 6.5 over her last 10 games and is up to 4.3 for the season.
• Kriftcher's five threes give her 50 for the season and 101 for her career. She's now fifth on the Colgate season chart and 10th all-time.
• Stockill in the game passed Lorelei Groskurth '85 and Tracy Davis '89 on the Colgate career scoring chart and is up to 17th place at 1,050.
• Stockill's next blocked shot will be her 100th this season.
• Colgate with an 18-of-20 performance improved its team free-throw shooting percentage to 74.0, tops in the Patriot League. The Colgate season mark of 72.0 was set just last season.
• Stockill, Curtis, Kriftcher and Koren all were perfect from the line.
• Colgate is shooting 79.1 percent from the stripe over its last eight games.
 
Turning Point
• Colgate endured a rough ending to the first quarter and then fell behind 19-10 early in the second.
• But Chandler's 3-pointer got the Raiders going in that second quarter en route to a 28-point effort, highlighted by 11-of-14 shooting from the field.
• Colgate outscored Lehigh 28-18 in the second and then 20-5 to start the third to build what proved to be an insurmountable lead.
 
From the Sources
• Colgate head coach Nicci Hays Fort: (On the game) "I'm very proud of our team. We had some big goals for this game. We wanted to out-rebound them and we did. We wanted to keep our turnovers low and we did that. We shared the ball really well and it was just a great team win.
 
"We stuck with the game plan and we get to be home on Saturday."
 
(On Kriftcher and Stockill's play) "They were terrific. They're playing their best basketball at the end of their careers."
 
• Colgate senior Josie Stockill (On her performance): "I passionately wanted to win tonight to get a home game Saturday. The team was behind it and we had the momentum the whole game."
 
• Colgate senior Paige Kriftcher (On her performance): "Because we played Lehigh just a week ago, we really knew how to execute and what were high-percentage shots against them. That helped us realize when we needed to get into the paint and when we needed to drive. Inside touches, threes – we just had a better feel for the game just playing them so recently."
 
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at Cotterell Court was 717.
• Before the game, Hays Fort presented Stockill with a ceremonial basketball in honor of Stockill becoming the 20th Colgate Raider to score 1,000 career points.
 
Up Next
• Colgate hosts Lafayette this Saturday in the first round of the Patriot League tournament.
• It's the second year in a row the Raiders have hosted a first-round game.
• Colgate swept the season series against Lafayette, winning 72-59 in Easton back in December and 70-55 at home last Saturday.
• Tipoff is 4 p.m.

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