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HAMILTON – The Colgate women's basketball team wasn't able to get much going offensively Saturday afternoon at Cotterell Court as the Raiders fell 79-49 to first-place Bucknell.
 
Kateri Stone tallied a team-best 10 points, while Katie Curtis followed with eight. Rachel Thompson chipped in a career-best eight assists.
 
The Raiders held an early 6-5 lead, but Bucknell used a 7-0 stretch to pull ahead 12-6 with 6:01 left in the opening quarter. Three points from the charity stripe had Colgate within 12-9 a minute later, but the Bison spent the remainder of the term on a 12-5 run to carry a 24-14 lead into the second quarter.
 
Bucknell scored the first eight points of the second stanza to pull ahead 32-14 with 7:53 on the clock. A jumper from Stone finally stopped the Bison streak at the 7:18 mark and helped the Raiders rattle off seven of the game's next 10 points to narrow the gap to 35-21 two minutes later. Bucknell responded with the next nine points to build its lead to 44-21 with just over two minutes left in the first half. Thompson and Steph Poland were able to add Colgate baskets in the final minute and a half, but the Bison carried a 48-25 lead into the second half.
 
Bucknell held onto its 23-point lead two minutes into the second half at 52-29 before three-straight treys from Stone, Thompson and Chelsey Koren pulled the Raiders within 52-38 with 4:27 left on the third-quarter clock. The Raiders held the Bison scoreless for nearly five minutes during that stretch. Bucknell had an answer, however, as the Bison scored 11 of the next 14 points to take a 63-43 lead into the final stanza.
 
The Raiders weren't able to get much going in the fourth quarter, as the Bison put up 16 points compared to Colgate's six to secure a 79-49 victory.
 
BOTTOM LINE

• Bucknell 79, Colgate 49

 
WON-LOST RECORDS

• The Raiders falls to 8-16 overall and 5-8 in the Patriot League.
• Bucknell improves to 19-5 on the season and 11-2 in league action.

 
KEY RAIDER INFO

• The Raiders tied their season high with 11 blocks. Steph Poland and Summer King each stuffed three blocks.
• Thompson finished with a career-high eight assists to go along with seven points and seven rebounds.
• Stone tallied her 13th double-figure effort of the season.

 
FACTS & FIGURES

• The Raiders finished the game shooting 31.1 percent (19-for-61) from the field, 22.2 percent (4-for-18) from three-point range and 41.2 percent (7-for-17) from the free throw line.
• Bucknell shot 47.5 percent (28-for-59) from the field, 50.0 percent (9-for-18) from downtown and 73.7 percent (14-for-19) from the charity stripe.
• The Bison held a 42-38 rebound advantage.
• Four Bison scored in double-figures, led by Claire DeBoer's 20 points.

 
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Bill Cleary (On the game): "Coach Roussell obviously has done a fantastic job there; they are a great team. There are not many kinks in the armor. We got off to a good start; I really liked our energy. But we got down and the next thing you know, we just kept watching the score instead of trusting what we do and trusting the process.

"In our game against Army and our game today, we didn't score much in either game. But against Army, we defended."

Listen to the rest of Coach Cleary's comments HERE.
 
UP NEXT

• The Raiders hit the road for a midweek matchup at Boston University.
• Tipoff from Boston is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday.
• Colgate will be looking to complete the season sweep after earning a 96-87 double overtime win on Jan. 18.
• All information on how to follow can be found at Game Central.