HAMILTON – Colgate's youthful Raiders dropped a 79-51 decision here Saturday to preseason favorite Boston University.
 
The impressive Terriers (3-0, 3-0 North) placed five in double figures, led by Katie Nelson's 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting. Boston U. was 19-of-28 from the floor during the middle two quarters when they outscored the Raiders 48-22.
 
Turnovers bit the Raiders (1-2, 1-2 North) hard Saturday. Colgate committed 24 for the game, leading to a 28-8 Boston edge in points-off-turnovers. That margin was 16-0 after Maggie Pina swished a 3-pointer with 6:15 left in the second quarter to make it 32-15.
 
Boston used a 10-0 run to begin the second quarter and a 14-0 run to open the third. Riley Childs' 3-pointer made it 55-27 Terriers with 5:04 showing on the third-quarter clock. BU led 67-35 heading to the fourth quarter.
 
Colgate's Alexa Brodie scored 11 of her team-high 14 points in the first half to try and keep the Raiders close. First-years Lindsay Blackmore and Ariel Loiter added 9 points apiece.
 
This was Boston's third straight win on Cotterell Court and marked the fifth straight victory in this series by the road team. The teams play again Sunday in Hamilton and have a return series Feb. 6-7 in Boston.


 
Bottom Line
• Boston University 79, Colgate 51
 
From the Source
• Head Coach Bill Cleary: (On the game) "The aggressiveness of Boston really caused us problems today. We can defend better and we can be better offensively. Today, we didn't do what we practiced this week in trying to attack gaps. We did a lot of passing around the perimeter, hoping that the passing would create the shots as opposed to getting in there. And that's how we make our threes, by getting in there and attacking and kicking the extra pass. We usually do a good job of that; today, I thought we were very stagnant.
 
(On Ariel Loiter) "I'm really excited for Ari. We had a talk after the weekend and we told her the minutes she got last weekend are not indicative of what we want from her. She played like she was pressing, and she did a better job today of playing loose. As our young players start getting experience, it's going to be a lot better. I was really excited with what Ari did today because that's more indicative of who's she is going to be if not better."
 
(On Sunday's game) "The good thing about playing back-to-backs is today is done. Don't worry about it. We can learn from what we did, and we will, and we can be better at it tomorrow. Not having to wait four days to play again is a good thing."


 
Stats of the Game
• To show what difference a year makes from last season's 60-58 Boston University win in Hamilton, the Terriers returned 48 of their 60 points to this year's team. Colgate returned four of its 58 points.
• The Raiders were 11-of-19 from the field in the first half, good for 57.9 percent. But Boston was 15-of-29 – the difference in attempts being Colgate's 14 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.
• This was Colgate's largest home loss since a 90-62 defeat to Bucknell back in January 2019.
• BU posted its largest margin of victory over Colgate. The previous largest was 78-56 at the LIU Turkey Classic in Brooklyn back in November 2010, before the Terriers were in the Patriot League.
 
Up Next
• Colgate and Boston University continue their two-game series Sunday Cotterell Court. Tipoff is 1 p.m., with ESPN+ carrying the livestream.