BALTIMORE – Colgate had the perfect remedy here Saturday for a really crummy second quarter. A scintillating second half.
The Raiders rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit to storm past Loyola 58-47 and snap their five-game losing streak. Colgate outscored the host Greyhounds 33-15 in the second half.
Haley Greer and
Summer King were the Raider leading scorers, and both did most of their damage after the break. Greer knocked down three of her four 3-pointers and scored 11 of her 14 in the second half, while King also swished a couple of threes and scored 10 of her 12 on the better side of halftime.
Greer made four 3-pointers for the second time in her career (Boston last month). King made multiple threes for the first time in college.
Colgate jumped to a 14-10 first quarter lead but
Rachel Thompson picked up two fouls to limit the Raiders' efficiency. Loyola then quickly swung the momentum.
The Greyhounds scored the first nine points of the second quarter and ended the period on an 11-2 run. In between, Colgate did post a nice 9-2 run but, added together, the Greyhounds led 32-25 at intermission.
Loyola helped itself in that second period by shooting 61.5 percent from the floor, including 4-of-7 from downtown. Colgate was just 4-of-12 shooting in the second while being outscored 22-11.
To start the third, Loyola's Abby Omdahl converted a three-point play to hand the Greyhounds their largest lead at 35-27 with 7:32 left in the third quarter.
After that, it was all Raiders.
Colgate was within 35-31 when
Tegan Graham converted a pair of driving layups, sandwiched around a Loyola bucket. King put down a tough layup with 2:45 showing to tie it 37-37, and then she drilled a 3-pointer for Colgate's first lead of the half at 40-39.
Greer's 3-pointer from the wing made handed the Raiders a 43-39 edge at the end of three quarters.
The teams traded hoops before Colgate went on a 10-0 run that iced the game. Thompson drove for a layup and then Greer and King nailed back-to-back threes before
Mylah Chandler finished the streak with her own layup that made it 55-42 with 3:41 left.
The Raiders were never challenged from there.
Bottom Line
• Colgate 58, Loyola 47
Won-Lost Records
• Colgate improved to 10-15 overall and 6-9 in the Patriot League.
• Loyola is now 4-22 and 3-12.
Stats of the Game
• Chandler led all rebounders with 11, pushing her career total to 607 and moving her into 10th place on the all-time Colgate chart.
• She also had four steals for the third time this season, matching her career best.
• Colgate won its first game this season when scoring fewer than 60 points.
• King had 13 career 3-pointers before Saturday but never had made more than one in a collegiate game.
• Greer over her last four games is 11-of-26 from downtown for 42.3 percent. She has 38 threes for the season and is shooting 33 percent.
• Colgate won in Baltimore for the first time since 2015 and swept this season series for the first time since that same year.
• Colgate's 10 wins matches the most since in a season since 2004-05 (12).
• Loyola shot just 16 percent from the floor in the second half, going 4-of-25.
From the Sources
•
Head Coach Bill Cleary (On the second half) "I want to give a big shout-out to
Summer King and
Haley Greer. Those are two players who have been starting but, I'll be honest, we need them in the second half and we need them rested. They provide such a big lift for us. Their character is the reason why they are able to do that because both of them only care about the team. They don't care about themselves; they just want to win."
(On Naessens) "Hopefully, people are noticing that she is a player. She had mono right at the beginning of the season and that's tough to come back from. But she has been grinding and she gets in the gym; she wants to be good. When she figures it out, she's going to be a force to be reckoned with in this league."
(On Graham) "She had four assists and one turnover, which is what she does every game. But you see that she scored four points tonight – those might have been the four biggest points of the game. They were momentum-shifters for us. And this is not the first night she has done that for us."
(On Chandler) "That's a player who just wants to be good. I'm thrilled to see the senior year she's having."
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at Reitz Arena was 319.
Up Next
• Colgate is home Wednesday to take on Army.
• The Black Knights were 6-8 in the Patriot League and 11-14 overall heading into Saturday night's game at Lehigh.
• Tip time is 7 p.m. from Cotterell Court, with the Patriot League Network and 94 WKXZ-FM carrying all the action.
