EASTON, Pa. – Another fast start, another rally – and another tough-luck loss for Colgate.
 
Lafayette streaked to a 12-point first-quarter lead and then held off a third-quarter surge from the Raiders to post a 63-48 Patriot League decision here Friday night.
 
Turnovers continue to plague Colgate, which committed a season-high 25 and suffered a 26-10 disadvantage in points-off-turnovers. The Raiders are averaging just over 19 miscues per game for the season.
 
Colgate scored the game's first four points but then Lafayette answered with 15 straight during a 4:45 Raiders drought. The Leopards led 21-9 at the end of one, taking advantage of 10 Colgate turnovers for a killer 10-0 edge in points-off-turnovers.
 
Colgate in the second quarter pulled within 28-20 on Tegan Graham's baseline jumper with 3:33 remaining before half. But Lafayette once again went streaking and scored the final 10 points of the period to lead 38-20 at intermission.
 
Colgate turned the tables and scored the first 12 of the second half to make it 38-32 on Mackenzie Carroll's 3-pointer with 5:29 showing. Lafayette finally got on the board half-a-minute later when Anna Ptasinski popped in a three from the right wing.
 
The Raiders again pulled within 43-37 on Chelsey Koren's bank shot with 2:53 left in the third. But Lafayette answered with a pair of 3-balls and led 49-37 heading to the fourth.
 
Points were hard to come by for most of the final stanza but the Leopards slowly built their lead to a high of 63-45 before settling for the final margin. Lafayette is now 2-1 in the Patriot League after a 4-6 nonconference slate.
 
Koren led all scorers with a game-high 15 points – every one coming in the second half – while Carroll added 10. Graham was the rebound leader with five and Ahart paced the team in assists with three.
 
Drew Freeland scored 13 points to lead a balanced Lafayette attack, while Natalie Kucowski added 12 points, nine rebounds, two blocks and four steals.
 
Bottom Line
Lafayette 63, Colgate 48
 
Won-Lost Records
• Colgate is now 4-10 overall and 0-3 in the Patriot League.
• Lafayette improved to 6-7 and 2-1.
 
Facts & Figures
• Colgate shot 41.9 percent, or more than a point better than its season average of 40.7.
• It's a roller coaster for the Raiders at the free throw line right now. One game after a season-high 79.3 percent against American, Colgate finished 5-of-10.
• Carroll was one point shy of her season-best in scoring. She had 11 at Cornell.
• Graham led in rebounds for the fourth time this season. That's second only to Summer King's seven.
• Koren topped the scoring column for the third time. She's trails team leaders King and Rachel Thompson by just one.
• Pozsonyi made her first start since Jan. 14 of last year at Bucknell.
• Tonight was Colgate's 11th different starting lineup combination of the season.
• Lafayette's 10 made 3-pointers were a season high.
 
From the Source
• Head coach Bill Cleary (On the game) "We played a great third quarter but we are having to expend too much energy coming back. We got it to six and, I'll be honest, we had some defensive lapses because the players were physically spent. It had nothing to do with not knowing what to do.
 
"We say, 'Do your work early.' If we do our work early, everything else falls into place. We're not doing our work early. It's Groundhog Day. Dig ourselves a hole and then try to climb out of it. Every game we've cut the lead substantially, only to let it grow again. We're not bad but let's believe in ourselves."
 
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at Kirby Sports Center was 366.
 
Up Next
• Colgate stays the road to complete a combined road trip Monday night at Navy.
• The Mids are 11-3 overall but fell to 1-2 in the Patriot League after Friday's 46-41 loss at first-place American.
• Tipoff Monday from Annapolis is 7 o'clock, with the Patriot League Network carrying all the action.