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HAMILTON – Siena staged a fourth-quarter rally and held off a late Colgate comeback attempt in overtime to post a 73-70 decision here Wednesday night.
The Raiders themselves came back from a 36-31 halftime deficit to lead 55-45 at the end of three quarters – a 24-9 third-quarter turnaround. Five straight points from
Tegan Graham to open the fourth pushed the Raiders in front 60-47 with 8:28 remaining.
But Siena ended regulation on a 17-4 run to force overtime at 64-all. Sabrina Piper's 3-pointer with 32 seconds remaining tied the score and then the Saints held off a last-second
Rachel Thompson jumper.
Siena never trailed in overtime but the Raiders pulled within 71-70 on
Kateri Stone's jumper with 45 seconds left. After the Saints misfired twice on their possession, Thompson broke free on the fast break and was fouled with six seconds remaining.
Thompson missed the first and then made the second to force an apparent tie, but Colgate was whistled for a free-throw violation to nullify the point. Siena's Piper sank two free throws and Colgate was unable to get off a legitimate 3-point shot at the buzzer.
Graham scored a career-high 18 points to tie Piper for game honors. Stone added a season-high 17 points, Thompson 14 and King 10.
Bottom Line
Siena 73, Colgate 70 (ot)
Won-Lost Records
• Colgate finishes the month 3-4.
• Siena improves to 3-3.
Facts & Figures
• Colgate shot a season-high 54.2 percent from the floor, but Siena ended the game with 22 more field goal attempts (70-48).
• The Raiders were 5-of-7 from 3-point distance for a season percentage high.
• Graham scored her 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor, including 2-of-2 from downtown.
• Her three steals were a career high.
• Stone was 7-of-11 from the floor and made one 3-pointer. She has 97 for her career.
• Graham and
Nia Ahart both played a career-high 36 minutes.
• In addition to Piper's 18 points, Kollyns Scarbrough scored 15 and added 11 rebounds, while Maddie Sims posted 16 and 8.
• Siena outscored Colgate 19-9 in the fourth quarter and then 9-6 in overtime.
• The Saints won for the 17th time in 20 series meetings.
• Colgate despite the loss finished with three November victories for the first time since 2009.
From the Source
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Colgate head coach Bill Cleary: (On the second half) "Two different quarters. We followed the game plan in the third quarter extremely well – being aggressive and attacking their press. We got great help from a lot of players.
"In the fourth quarter, they scored first but then we got five points from Tegan right away and built a 13-point lead. But we gave up a three immediately after that and it became a constant struggle for us offensively and even defensively.
"We're better than this and this is a tough loss to swallow, but it's going to have to be a learning experience for us. We said after the Yale game that our highs can't be too high after wins and our lows can't be too low after losses. We've got to understand that we cannot continue to make the same mistakes we've been making, and that's on me. We will fix that. We will be better, we will build off this, learn from this and move forward."
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at Cotterell Court was 563.
Up Next
• Colgate is home again Saturday against UMass Lowell.
• The River Hawks are 2-5 after Wednesday night's 78-67 loss at Fairfield.
• Tipoff is 2 p.m., with the Patriot League Network and WKXZ-FM carrying all the action.
