EVANSTON, Ill. – No harm in the Colgate Raiders stepping up in class this week. Call it a little Thanksgiving excursion.
Unbeaten Northwestern dealt Colgate its second straight loss to end a tough Midwest trip, 73-44 in a Wednesday matinee. The Wildcats at 5-0 have a chance to crack the national top 25 should they knock off Chicagoland rival DePaul this Sunday at home.
The home side started fast against the Raiders, scoring the game's first 11 points before
Tegan Graham halted the drought with 4:29 showing on the first quarter clock. Graham scored again and local favorite
Haley Greer bombed in a 3-pointer, but Colgate trailed 22-9 at the first break.
The Raiders scored just nine points again in the second quarter and went to the locker room in a 35-18 hole. Northwestern's Lindsey Pulliam already had 13 points, while Colgate scoring leader
Rachel Thompson was held to five in the opening 20 minutes on 2-of-7 shooting.
The lead moved into the 20s during the third quarter, settling at 53-32 by the period's end.
Taylor Langan scored four and
Jenna Paul three to keep Colgate's bench play sharp and contributing.
Colgate opened the fourth quarter 4-of-4 from the field, and the Raiders by game's end were able to push their shooting percentage over the 30 percent mark to 30.4, still the lowest of the season. Combined with Sunday's 31.6, the Raiders shot just 31 percent over their two-game swing into Central time.
Against, no question, their two finest opponents of the season.
Thompson finished with 11 points and Graham scored 10, with Thompson grabbing eight rebounds to share game-high honors. Colgate' streak of three consecutive games with single-digit turnovers came to an end as Northwestern forced 17.
Colgate at 5-2 still is putting together one of the best preconference seasons in program history. Only the 2003-04 Patriot League champions at 6-1 were better through seven games. And the Raiders have a chance to get back on track with three December home games out of four, starting Sunday against Niagara.
Bottom Line
• Northwestern 73, Colgate 44
From the Source
•
Head Coach Bill Cleary (On the trip) "Our goals were to win both games. At Saint Louis, we had a real chance in that game. There were things the players when watching the film wish they had back.
"The big difference today was Northwestern jumped all over us and we never recovered. They came in and followed the game plan and took it took us. We got rattled, we were behind and we never could catch our footing.
"One of the things we focused on in practice this week was not settling for threes. But Northwestern forces you to take bad shots and that's what we did. When we executed what we wanted to get done, we got three straight baskets. One of the things we've got to get better as is discipline, and that starts with me. I'll take full responsibility for that.
"The reason you play these games is to see where you need to improve. We know what we need to do and we will get back to work to get better."
Stats of the Game
• Wednesday's 44 points and Sunday's 51 are Colgate's two lowest-scoring games of the season.
• Three-pointers were tough to come by. Northwestern finished 3-of-18 and Colgate was 2-of-22.
•
Alexa Brodie didn't score but had four assists against just two turnovers.
• Graham and Thompson were both 5-of-11 from the field.
• Pulliam led all scorers with 18. Sydney Wood grabbed eight boards to match Thompson's effort.
• Colgate's bench outscored the Wildcat bench 25-21.
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at Welsh-Ryan Arena was 945.
Up Next
• Colgate is home for three games in December, starting Sunday against Niagara.
• The Purple Eagles won their first game of the season Monday night, 77-63 at home against Oakland.
• Tipoff is 2 p.m. from Cotterell Court, with the Patriot League Network and 94 WKXZ-FM carrying all the action.
