BOSTON – Take a bow, seniors!
Colgate's Class of 2020 quartet put its stamp on a 70-61 comeback victory over Boston University here Saturday. The four seniors combined for 61 of the 70 points – including 21 of the 24 in the decisive fourth quarter – with all four reaching double figures.
Patriot League Player of the Year candidate
Rachel Thompson led the way with a season-high 27 points, followed by
Tegan Graham and
Haley Greer with 12 apiece and
Abby Schubiger with 10.
Graham tallied nine of her 12 in the final period to spark the Raiders, who outscored the hosts 24-14 over the closing 10 minutes. Greer and Thompson added six apiece in that last stanza as Colgate won its fifth in a row for the second time this season.
Trailing 47-46 going to the fourth, Graham handed the Raiders their first lead of the game with her putback of
Nia Ahart's 3-point attempt with 9 minutes remaining.
There were two ties and seven lead changes over the next 6½ minutes until Graham gave the Raiders the lead for keeps 58-56 with a corner 3-pointer in front of the Colgate bench at the 2:16 mark.
Taylor Langan then put the Raiders in front 61-56 with her own 3-pointer with 1:25 to play. The Raiders forced a missed trey on the defensive end and Boston University began fouling to put Colgate on the line with under a minute remaining.
Thompson stepped to the stripe for Colgate's first free throw attempt of the day with 45.6 seconds showing. She missed the first but made the second for a 62-56 edge.
Thompson, Greer, Graham and Greer again followed with perfect 2-of-2 trips to the line and Colgate pocketed its 13th victory of the season to exceed last year's overall win total.
Boston University ended the first quarter by sinking three consecutive 3-pointers for a 20-11 edge. The Terriers built their lead to as much as 27-14 before Colgate whittled the margin to 34-26 at halftime. Thompson scored eight in the first quarter and Schubiger eight in the second to keep the Raiders within striking distance.
Colgate improved to 13-4 overall and 5-1 in the Patriot League, jumping into a second-place tie. Both of those records are the best in program history through this point of the season. Boston University is now 8-9 and 3-3.
Bottom Line
• Colgate 70, Boston University 61
From the Sources
•
Head Coach Bill Cleary (On halftime adjustments) "On defense, we just said we had to be tighter. We lost our poise and we lost our composure in the first half, so we just said relax. We hadn't played well, we all knew that, but let's regain our composure, let's regain our poise and everything will be fine. And to their credit, they did a great job."
Listen to the rest of Coach Cleary's comments
HERE.
•
Senior guard Tegan Graham (On today's senior success) "The four seniors really pulled together and used some composure and our leadership to finish out this game. We came into halftime with the mindset that we didn't play very well offensively or defensively, but we were still in the game. So we made some small adjustments on both ends and just kept that same positive mindset to execute and to win. On to the next!"
•
Senior guard Haley Greer (On the key fourth quarter) "It's always nice to have all four of the seniors on the floor together, especially at the end of a tight game like that. It's awesome getting to play with them. We pass the ball and find the open player, and it happened to be the four of us today. Coach is always preaching that we have to make free throws in tight games, so we put them in at the end and it was great to close it out."
Stats of the Game
• Greer's 12 points were a season-high
.
• Thompson's 27 points marked the second-highest point total of her career, behind a 30-point game last year against Loyola
.
• Colgate outscored BU 44-27 in the second half.
• Colgate's bench contributed a 30-18 scoring edge
.
• Thompson and Schubiger combined for 10-of-13 from the field and 20 points in the first half. The rest of the team was 2-of-16 and with 6 points.
• Sydney Johnson led four Terriers in double figures with 18 points. Maren Durant added 10 points and 12 rebounds for her first career double-double.
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at Case Gym was 375.
Up Next
• Colgate stays on the road for a Wednesday trip to Bucknell.
• The first-place Bison are 13-4 and 6-0 in the Patriot League after Saturday's impressive 71-50 win at Lehigh.
• Tipoff from Lewisburg is 6 p.m., with the Patriot League Network carrying all the action.
