HAMILTON – There will be a rubber match between Colgate and Lehigh.
Lehigh returned the favor and turned the tables on Colgate from exactly two weeks ago and posted an 86-70 decision Wednesday night at Cotterell Court. The Mountain Hawks led by 26 points before Colgate scored the final 10.
Back on Feb. 19, the Raiders prevailed 82-73 in Bethlehem in a game Colgate led by 20 until the final minutes.
Wednesday night's league results dropped the Raiders into a third-place tie at 11-7. Colgate now hosts its first-ever Patriot League Tournament Quarterfinal matchup against – how about that! – sixth-seeded Lehigh on Monday night in Hamilton. Tipoff is 7 p.m.
As good as the Raiders were two weeks ago in Bethlehem, this night was all Lehigh.
The Mountain Hawks prevailed in all four quarters, stretching an initial 19-14 lead at the end of the first period to 39-33 at halftime.
Needing to get the jump on the visitors in the third quarter, Colgate rallied to within 40-37 on
Alexa Brodie's basket with 9:21 showing and 46-43 on
Tegan Graham's 3-point-play with 6:22 remaining.
But Mary Clougherty knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and Camryn Buhr made another to return the lead to double digits. Buhr put the exclamation point on Lehigh's 28-point period when she banked home a half-court heave as the buzzer sounded for a 67-53 Mountain Hawks advantage.
The Raiders fell behind 86-60 in the fourth before a late push narrowed the final margin to 16.
Haley Greer scored a career-high 18 points to pace the Raiders, with Graham adding 13,
Rachel Thompson 12 and
Ava Williams 12. Williams just missed her first career double-double with nine rebounds. The Colgate leader in that department was first-year
Holly Lueken with a season-high 10.
The Mountain Hawks had three players top 20 points, led by Clougherty with 23.
Colgate dropped to 19-10 overall, still posting the most regular season victories in program history. Lehigh improved to 18-11.
Final Patriot League Standings
Bucknell 16-2
Boston University 12-6
COLGATE 11-7
Holy Cross 11-7
Lafayette 11-7
Lehigh 10-8
American 8-10
Loyola 5-13
Army 4-14
Navy 2-16
Saturday's First Round
10 Navy at 7 American
9 Army at 8 Loyola
Monday's Quarterfinals
6 Lehigh at 3 COLGATE
5 Lafayette at 4 Holy Cross
7/10 winner at 2 Boston University
8/9 winner at 1 Bucknell
Bottom Line
• Lehigh 86, Colgate 70
Stats of the Game
• Thompson needs just 10 more points to become the first Raider to score 500 in a season since Emily Braseth in 2003-04.
• Greer's three 3-pointers matched her season high and bumped her career total to 99. That's one better than assistant coach
Katie Curtis knocked down from 2014-17.
• One more trey and Greer becomes the 13th player in Division I program history to reach the century mark.
• Colgate's three-game losing streak is its longest of the year.
• The Raiders and Mountain Hawks met in last year's Patriot League Tourney quarters, with third-seeded Lehigh prevailing over sixth-seeded Colgate 78-68.
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at Cotterell Court was 484.
Up Next
• Colgate opens the Patriot League Tournament against a familiar foe – Lehigh for the third time in the last three weeks.
• The Mountain Hawks after Wednesday win are 18-11 overall and they finished 10-8 in conference.
• Tipoff from Cotterell Court is 7 p.m., with the Patriot League Network and 94 WKXZ-FM carrying all the action.
