WORCESTER, Mass. – Let's call it what it was: Colgate's best week of basketball this season.
The Raiders completed a two-game road sweep of the Patriot League's preseason No. 1 and No. 2 teams with a thorough 80-69 victory over Holy Cross here Saturday. Wednesday night, Colgate handled Lehigh 82-73.
Combine those two wins with Boston University's one-point loss Saturday at American, and Colgate vaults back into solo second place.
Next up: A visit by first-place Bucknell this Wednesday night at Cotterell Court.
Saturday featured a tournament atmosphere inside the Hart Center, with a combination of Senior Day, the football team whooping it up and two top basketball squads going at it.
The Raiders and Crusaders played on even terms for the first quarter, with Holy Cross settling for a 16-15 advantage through 10 minutes. Holy Cross then sprinted to a 27-19 lead on Avery LaBarbera's basket with 5:54 remaining before halftime.
And that's when the
Tegan Graham Show began.
Graham scored on a layup and then banked in a 3-pointer from straight away to narrow the margin to 29-26. Graham swished two more from long range before the quarter was done and Colgate led 35-33 at intermission. The Raiders had finished the half on a 16-6 run.
Which was big because the Raiders going into Saturday were 13-0 when leading at halftime.
Graham had scored 11 in the quarter and already had 15 for the game.
Holy Cross early in the second half pulled within 39-36 on Kathryn Pedi's 3-pointer, but just like that the Raiders regained control.
Alexa Brodie reignited the offense with a 3-pointer that rattled home, and then
Abby Schubiger made back-to-back buckets.
Rachel Thompson hit a streaking Graham for a 3-point-play and then
Holly Lueken banked home a layup from
Haley Greer's assist. Greer's two free throws in the closing seconds pushed the Raiders in front 55-46 heading to the fourth.
Lauren Manis was brilliant for the Crusaders, finishing with 30 points and 14 rebounds. She and LaBarbera kept the home side close but Colgate refused to yield.
LaBarbera's two free throws with 3:41 showing made it a 68-63 game – the closest Holy Cross had been since early in the half. But
Taylor Langan did what she does and knocked down her second 3-pointer of the quarter to push the lead back to eight.
Just enough free throws and some key Colgate steals helped the Raiders sweep Holy Cross for the second time in four years.
Greer played a terrific game, scoring 10 points (8-of-10 at the line) and matching career highs with six assists and three steals. Brodie and Schubiger also scored 10 points.
Graham and Thompson shared Colgate honors with 18 points apiece. Graham was 7-of-11 from the field and Thompson 7-of-12.
Thompson added six rebounds, seven assists and four steals. The seven assists give Thompson a Colgate season-record 132, and her career steals total passed the 200 mark.
Colgate's 19th regular season victory is a program record, as is the 11th Patriot League win. After Wednesday's game against Bucknell, the Raiders have games at Army and home against Lehigh. Holy Cross dropped to 15-11 and 8-7.
Patriot League Standings
Bucknell 13-2
COLGATE 11-4
Boston U. 10-5
Lafayette 9-6
Holy Cross 8-7
Lehigh 8-7
American 7-8
Loyola 4-11
Army 3-12
Navy 2-13
Bottom Line
• Colgate 80, Holy Cross 69
From the Source
•
Head Coach Bill Cleary: (On the game) "
Tegan Graham did a great job of keeping us in the game and actually giving us the lead. She really fed on the atmosphere today, and what a big, big second quarter and a big game from her.
"We had five in double-figures and it was a great team win. Everyone who played contributed big minutes and I'm very happy. Talk about a team that matured this week – we're playing the No. 1 and No. 2 preseason favorites, on their floors, and we really did a great job of coming together and growing."
(On the team coming together) "You really do want to start peaking right now. Credit this team because they take each game one at a time. I can't stress enough how this team continues to grow. Coming into this week, there were question marks about if we could get through these two games with a win, much less two. But to win both games the way we did, shows the growth of this team and where this program is going."
(On the team's confidence) "Even when we got down eight, there was no panic and we weren't rattled. Again, that points to the maturation process going on inside this locker room. Credit all goes to the players."
•
Senior guard Tegan Graham: (On the atmosphere) "So much fun; I love games like that. As soon as I saw the big crowd and saw all of those football guys coming in, I was really pumped. I love playing in front of crowds. That just amps the game and makes it that much more competitive. I just had fun.
"I was shooting the ball when I was open and I was feeding off the crowd's energy. They were really helping ME out.
(On the week) "We needed these wins going into Bucknell so we could have a little confidence and really try to finish our season strong."
Stats of the Game
• Colgate trails 56-10 in the series against Holy Cross, but it's a 5-4 Raiders lead since Cleary's arrival in 2016-17.
• Saturday's win was Colgate's 25th in a row when scoring at least 70 points. The Raiders are 16-0 this season when scoring 70-plus.
• The Raiders finished sixth last season and were picked for sixth in this year's Patriot League preseason poll.
• Last year's team through the same number of games was 11-15 overall and 6-9 in conference.
• Thompson on Saturday moved into seventh place on the all-time Colgate scoring chart with 1,219 points, and into a tie for sixth in steals with 203. She's already third in rebounding with 649 and fourth in assists with 328.
• Colgate committed just nine turnovers to 18 for Holy Cross, and the Raiders posted a 26-5 scoring edge in points-off-turnovers.
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at the Hart Center was 1,116.
Up Next
• Colgate is home Wednesday night for a matchup against first-place Bucknell.
• The Bison are 20-6 overall and 13-2 in the Patriot League after Saturday's 67-56 home win over Lehigh.
• Tipoff from Cotterell Court is 7 p.m., with the Patriot League Network and 94 WKXZ-FM carrying all the action.
