ITHACA, N.Y. - The Colgate women's basketball team fell to Cornell in their season opener at Newman Arena Wednesday night, after the game was postponed a day due to a safety concern in the Ithaca region. 

Both teams struggled early to find the net, as they were almost three minutes into the first contest of the year before Cornell put the first points on the board with a jumper by Shannon Mulroy. Two minutes later Cornell added their first of three three-point baskets in the first quarter to jump out to a 7-0 lead. Colgate freshman Sophia Diehl was fouled and made both free throws to bring the score to 7-2. Senior Taylor Langan closed the gap with a jumper and the score was 7-4. A quick Cornell basket and two back-to-back threes from the Big Red put Colgate down by nine. Cornell closed out the first quarter with a 17-4 lead having taken advantage of 10 points off Colgate turnovers. 

In the second quarter, Colgate showed grit and determination to hold the Cornell offense to just 12 points and 35% field goal shooting. Colgate pulled down nine rebounds and scored 10 points, with the first coming from freshman Morgan McMahon in the paint. Langan followed up with another layup and freshman Taylor Golembiewski hit a three-pointer for her first points of the night. Diehl found herself back at the free throw line after a foul by Cornell's Summer Parker Hall and hit both shots. That was followed by another Cornell foul by Samantha Will to send senior co-captain Alexa Naessens to the line where she made one of two. Colgate ended the half down 29-14. 

The second half got off to a similar slow start with neither team scoring until over two minutes in. Cornell struck first with a free throw by Theresa Grace Mbanefo. Colgate stormed back with a 7-0 run led by a layup from sophomore Tiasia McMillan, followed by a turn-around jumper by Diehl. Junior co-captain Alexa Brodie contributed a three-point basket to close the gap to under 10 points. After a timeout taken by Cornell, the Big Red responded with seven unanswered points to push the lead back to 37-21. Each team scored once more to end the third quarter, the Big Red ahead 39-23.

The fourth quarter saw Golembiewski on fire as she scored nine points, including another three-pointer and three buckets in the paint. Langan added a deuce late to bring the final score to 53-34. First-year Golembiewski led the Raiders with 12 points in her first collegiate game, while Langan finished with eight points to go along with her 12 rebounds. Cornell's Theresa Grace Mbanefo led both teams with 15 points. 

FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Ganiyat Adeduntan

"Our team tonight was grateful for the opportunity to play a game as last year they learned to never take playing their sport for granted. Offensively we got off to a slow start and had a tough time coming back from that deficit. We showed we did not give up and kept fighting the entire game with some strong defensive stops and scores in the third quarter."

"We were pretty solid defensively holding them to around 50 points but offensively we will need to be able to score the ball better. I am optimistic that we will as we got a lot of great looks. There were definitely good things we will take from tonight's game and build upon that as we continue to improve this season." 

UP NEXT
The Raiders return to action against UMBC for their home opener on Cotterell Court Saturday at 2 p.m., with coverage on ESPN+.