HAMILTON – 2-0 for the Colgate Raiders has a very nice ring to it.
Photo Gallery
Colgate rode a double-double from
Rachel Thompson to its second impressive victory to begin the season, this one a 73-51 triumph over UMass Lowell here Sunday afternoon in the home opener.
The Raiders start 2-0 for the first time since 2009-10, and they post consecutive 20-plus-point victories for the first time since way back in the Patriot League championship campaign of 2003-04.
Colgate on this afternoon started slowly but then bolted into halftime behind a 20-7 second quarter that made the score 35-23 Raiders. After the River Hawks opened with a mini-run early in the second half,
Abby Schubiger scored eight of her 12 points to keep the visitors at bay.
That's when Colgate for the second game in a row left its opponent in the dust over the final 10 minutes. Colgate opened the fourth quarter on a 12-0 run that made it 63-41 thanks to
Ava Williams' corner 3-pointer with 5:35 remaining.
The River Hawks didn't dent the scoreboard in the quarter until 4:35 remained, and it took a last-minute flurry to push their point total for the period into double digits.
Thompson scored 17 points for Colgate and added game highs with 11 rebounds, seven assists and six steals. The steals total tied her collegiate best and helped force 23 UMass Lowell turnovers.
Colgate, meanwhile, finished with 19 assists against just 11 turnovers. In addition to Thompson,
Tegan Graham contributed four assists against zero turnovers.
Nia Ahart had another sparkling game with 11 points on 3-of-3 shooting – two of those were 3-pointers – and 3-of-4 at the line.
Alexa Brodie was next in the scoring column with nine.
Bottom Line
• Colgate 73, UMass Lowell 51
From the Source
•
Head Coach Bill Cleary (On the game) "We were down 1 at the end of the first but there was no panic, there was no 'Oh, my gosh.' It was all 'OK, we're fine. We've just got to tweak some things.' We did that and then we took off.
(On Thompson) "
Rachel Thompson is going to give you a ton of hustle plays. She's just playing her game and she wants to win. She gives her all and does it all the time."
(On Schubiger) "If Abby doesn't step up when she did, they would have cut into our lead. But Abby got going and to our players' credit, they recognized she had the hot hand and she responded really well. It's great to see her hard work paying off."
(On balance) "That's what we want. Three in double figures but many more numbers right behind in the scoring column. Like
Jenna Paul. Every time she comes into the game, she's ready."
Stats of the Game
• The Raiders thus far in the fourth quarter this season are shooting 63.0 percent from the field, including 9-of-13 from 3-point distance.
• They have outscored their two opponents in the fourth quarter a combined 50-27.
• 2003-04 was the last time Colgate had more than one 20-point victory IN A SEASON. They had zero last year and just one in Cleary's first three seasons at the helm.
• The back-to-back big wins in 2003-04 were 80-57 over Navy and 87-57 over Princeton, both at home.
• Thompson's double-double was the 10th of her career.
• She topped 800 points for her career (802) and moved into 12th on the Colgate steals list with 143, passing Mariah Jones (2012-15) at 141.
• Paul in 13 minutes played this season has scored 12 points. She scored six at NJIT and six more at home Sunday on 4-of-5 from the field, including 3-of-3 from downtown.
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at Cotterell Court was 411.
Up Next
• Colgate faces an Ivy week, starting with Thursday's trip to Cornell.
• The Big Red are 1-1 after Sunday's 59-49 loss at TCU. They won 71-51 Friday at Albany.
• Tipoff is 7 p.m. from Ithaca, with ESPN+ carrying the livestream. Catch the home play-by-play call from 94 WKXZ-FM.
• Colgate's next home game is Saturday against Yale at 1 p.m.
