HAMILTON – Defensive determination and a nifty double-double.
 
Those were the magic ingredients in Colgate's 70-52 triumph over Holy Cross here Wednesday night. The result not only draws the Raiders level with last year's win total – both overall (7) and in the Patriot League (4) – but completes the first regular season sweep of Holy Cross in Colgate program history.
 
Colgate won this one in the opening stages of the first and fourth quarters. The Raiders scored the game's first 11 points and held Holy Cross without a tally until 3:53 had elapsed. Then to start the important fourth quarter, Colgate expanded a 50-43 lead to 58-43 by holding the Crusaders scoreless for 5:37.
 
Holy Cross scored 25 points in the second quarter but managed just 8, 10 and 9 in the other three periods.
 
Massachusetts product Summer King did much of the dirty work against her home-state rivals, scoring 11 points and pulling down a career-high 14 rebounds. King's first collegiate double-double sparked the Raiders to a whopping 51-30 rebounding edge – their best of the season.
 
Colgate also held Holy Cross to just 28.6 percent shooting, nearly matching the 27.5 the Crusaders shot when Colgate won 62-54 in Worcester back on Jan 5. Those two marks are the best Raider defensive shooting lock-downs of the season.
 
Katie Curtis posted her second 10-of-10 performance at the free throw line this year, leading to 15 points. Chelsey Koren added 13 and Rachel Thompson 10, while Mylah Chandler pulled down seven big rebounds in just 15 minutes.
 
Katie Doherty scored 14 of Holy Cross' first 17 points on her way to a game- and career-high 21.
 
Bottom Line
• Colgate 70, Holy Cross 52
 
Won-Lost Records
• Colgate improved to 7-14 overall and 4-6 in the Patriot League, matching both win totals from last season.
• Holy Cross dropped to 5-16 and 3-7.
 
Quick Recap
• Colgate led wire to wire, but it was far from blowout city.
• After Colgate went up 11-0, the Raiders padded their lead to as much as 17-4 before settling on 18-8 at the end of a period.
• Then Holy Cross sprung to life in the second quarter.
• Doherty scored her team's first nine points as the Crusaders pulled first within 22-15 and then 26-21 by midway in the period. 
• A 9-2 Holy Cross run made it 34-33 Raiders just inside the 1:00 mark.
• Curtis knocked down a pair of free throws and Colgate led 36-33 at intermission.
• The Raiders went in front by eight points on three different occasions, the last 47-39 via Koren's layup with 1:47 to play in the third.
• The teams traded 3-pointers in the final 1:04 and Colgate led 50-43 heading to the fourth.
• That's when the Raiders clamped down for keeps, holding HC without a point for 5:37 and building a 58-43 cushion.
• The Crusaders never pulled within single digits the rest of the way.
 
Facts & Figures
• After managing just five wins in their first 57 tries, the Raiders are now 2-0 against Holy Cross under first-year head coach Bill Cleary.
• On the Holy Cross glass, Colgate outrebounded the visitors 35-13.
• Steph Poland earned her second straight start and posted a career-high seven points to go with a career-tying five rebounds.
• Mackenzie Carroll made two of Colgate's five 3-pointers. She's at 36.7 percent from downtown for the season.
• Curtis and Kateri Stone knocked down one trey apiece and now have 38 and 39 for the season, respectively. Reaching 45 vaults them into the Colgate season top-10.
• Curtis also is chasing the career top-10. She's at 89 3-pointers and counting and needs 17 more to tie Paige Kriftcher for 10th at 106.
• Colgate's largest rebounding edge before Wednesday's 51-30 was 44-35 in a November loss at Siena.
• For Holy Cross, Lauren Manis' 11 points marked her lowest total in eight games. Colgate's interior defense limited the first-year forward to just 4-of-18 shooting.
• Despite a season-high 27 turnovers, Colgate still managed a 19-17 edge in points-off-turnovers by forcing 20 Crusader miscues.
• Curtis with her second 10-of-10 perfection at the line in the last six games is now 34-of-38 (89.5 percent) during that span. She's up to 74.7 for the season.
 
From the Sources
• Colgate assistant coach Mahogany Green: (On the game) "It was a great team win. We've been in a little bit of a lull – our defense hasn't been where we wanted it to be – but tonight we came out and defended very well for 40 minutes. We had a little lapse in the second quarter but we picked it up.
 
"When we defend and we rebound, it's easy for us to score because we like to get out and run in transition."
 
Listen to the rest of Coach Green's comments HERE.
 
• Colgate sophomore forward Summer King: (On the game) "Our transition game was really big. Rebounding was huge for us and we got the ball to our shooters. We really put an emphasis on finishing in the fourth quarter. We stayed packed into the middle and just followed the fundamentals that the coaches have been teaching us. It paid off."
 
Listen to the rest of King's comments HERE.
 
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at Cotterell Court was 649.
 
Up Next
• Colgate starts a two-game road swing Saturday at second-place Navy.
• The Mids are 15-5 overall and 8-1 in the Patriot League heading into Thursday's night's home game against Boston University.
• Navy prevailed 80-67 last month in Hamilton for its 10th straight win over Colgate.
• Tipoff from Alumni Hall is 4 p.m.

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