HAMILTON – Highest scoring game in Cotterell Court history.
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That's what Colgate Women's Basketball fans got Sunday for the price of admission as the Raiders outlasted – with a Capital O, as in offense – the visiting Black Knights 100-93.
Colgate (9-4, 1-1 Patriot) went to the halftime locker room leading by a pedestrian score of 43-35. No big deal, right?
But after what must have been two of the most amazing halftime speeches in basketball coaching history by Colgate's
Bill Cleary and Army's Dave Magarity, these two teams proceeded to set the Patriot League record for points in a half.
Check this out: Colgate made 19 of its 26 field goal attempts in the second half – 19-of-26! – for 73.1 percent. And the Raiders lost the second half by a 58-57 score line. Army shot 59.0 percent in the second half and 52.1 percent for the game, yet it wasn't enough.
Colgate set the program field goal percentage record for a game at 63.3 percent, making 38 of 60. The old marks were 61.1 percent against St. Michael's back in 1986 during the Division II era, and 60.4 percent against Holy Cross in 1991 for the previous Cotterell Court high.
Speaking of Cotterell Court, the last time Colgate topped the 100-point plateau was in a 100-90 home victory over Canisius back on Nov. 29, 1997. Colgate's only other venture into triple-figures also came against Canisius one year earlier in a 114-106 overtime road loss to the Golden Griffins.
But that game was tied 96-96 heading to the extra session, making Sunday's thriller the most points scored in a Colgate Women's Basketball game in regulation time.
In-Game Highlights
Army (4-9, 0-2 Patriot) opened the second half by making its first seven field goal attempts to quickly erase Colgate's 43-35 cushion. The Black Knights zipped in front 54-53 on Hope Brown's jumper with 6:02 left in the third.
At the third quarter media timeout with 4:40 remaining in the period, the score for the quarter was already 22-14 Army. Colgate responded with a 10-3 run capped by
Haley Greer's 3-pointer that made it 72-65 with 1:08 left, but then Army closed with a pair of baskets to narrow the lead to 72-69 headed to the fourth.
Army in the third quarter outscored Colgate 34-29 to set a scoring record for one quarter by an opponent in Cotterell Court.
The fourth quarter saw two lead changes and four ties, the final one at 90-90 on Alisa Fallon's bucket with 2:30 to play. But Colgate's
Rachel Thompson and
Alexa Brodie combined for an 8-0 Raider run over the next 2 minutes and change to all but seal the verdict.
Morgann Yancey knocked down Army's 14th 3-pointer of the game – another Cotterell record – to keep faint hope alive on the Black Knight bench. But
Taylor Langan was fouled on Colgate's final possession and calmly knocked down two free throws to tip Colgate over the century mark.
The Raiders with the victory improved to 6-0 at home for the first time in program history. The 1997-98 Raiders were the only other Colgate team to win its first five home games.
The Raiders also won their third in a row over Army for the first time since a 3-0 streak during the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons.
Bottom Line
• Colgate 100, Army 93
From the Sources
•
Head Coach Bill Cleary (On the win) "It was such a big win for us after suffering a tough loss Thursday and then a quick turnaround to play a really good Army team. But we made shots today and we did a good job of playing team basketball, at least offensively. I'm really happy with that part of our game."
Listen to the rest of Coach Cleary's comments
HERE.
•
Senior forward Abby Schubiger (On her offensive efficiency) "Credit goes to my team. They gave me the ball in the best position possible. We had a talk about KYP, knowing your personnel, knowing where your teammates can best succeed. We definitely want to play team basketball, and the times we have found success this season have been when we are getting assists."
•
Senior guard Rachel Thompson (On the importance of today's game) "Coming off the loss at American, we knew it was important that we took a stance against a physical and strong Army team. It was gritty, it was dirty and it might not have been the prettiest, but we gutted it out."
Listen to the rest of the postgame show comments
HERE.
Stats of the Game
• Schubiger led the Raiders and scored a career-high 20 points on 10-of-11 shooting. The senior was 6-of-6 in the second half.
• Thompson scored 19 and needs just 11 points Wednesday at Loyola to reach 1,000 for her career.
• Colgate put five scorers in double-figures for the fourth time this season.
• It addition to its field goal percentage record, Colgate also set the program mark for best Cotterell Court free throw shooting at 94.4 percent (17-of-18). The Raiders made their last 17 attempts.
• Colgate's reserve contingent of Greer, Langan,
Tegan Graham and
Holly Lueken combined to outscore the Army reserves 36-15.
• Langan was a team-best +20 in the scoring column during her time on the court, while Greer was +15, Graham +11 and Lueken +6 in her 8 minutes of work.
• Colgate matched its season high with 27 assists. Army finished with a Patriot League season-high 28.
• Army's Fallon led all scorers with 26 points on 10-of-20 shooting, including 6-of-10 from downtown. She scored 19 in the second half.
• Fellow cadet Brown scored 17 of her 23 in the second half thanks to 7-of-9 shooting after intermission.
• For the game, there were 13 ties and 16 lead changes.
Other Records Tied or Broken
Colgate Team
Field Goal Percentage, Game, 63.3 percent (38-of-60)
Field Goal Percentage, Half, 73.1 percent (19-of-26)
Cotterell Court Records — Colgate
Tied most points (100)
Most points half (57)
Most points both teams (193)
Highest FG% (63.3)
Highest FT% (94.4)
Cotterell Court Records — Opponent
Tied most points half (58)
Most points quarter (34)
Tied most FG made (38)
Tied most 3FG made (14)
Most assists (28)
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at Cotterell Court was 329.
Up Next
• Colgate returns to the road Wednesday for a Kids Day game at Loyola.
• The Greyhounds are 3-10 overall and 0-2 in the Patriot League after Sunday's narrow 55-53 home loss to preseason favorite Lehigh.
• Tipoff from Baltimore is 11:30 a.m., with the Patriot League Network carrying all the action.
