EASTON, Pa. - In the most exciting finish of the season, Tiasia McMillan scored a layup with 0.8 seconds on the clock and a great defensive stop by Alexa Brodie sealed the victory for Colgate. Sophia Diehl led the Raiders in scoring with 13 points and seven rebounds. Lafayette's Claire Gallagher led the scoring for the Leopards with 12 points. The win marks head coach Ganiyat Adeduntan's first Patriot League win. 

In a game that only had three lead changes, it was a very tight battle from the beginning. The game started with a series of runs by both teams and the Leopards entered the locker room at halftime leading by just two points. Coming out of the break Morgan McMahon dropped a three and the Raiders never trailed again. There was one more tie with over five seconds to go in the fourth quarter when Lafayette tied it up after two shots from the free throw line by Jessica Booth. After a timeout by Colgate, McMahon inbounded the ball just past half court to McMillan and she drove through the lane and put the ball in the basket to take the lead at 49-47. With 0.8 seconds remaining, Lafayette inbounded the ball but a defensive stop by Brodie ended the game and brought the Raiders their first Patriot League win this season. 

The first quarter saw the Raiders jump out to a 10-2 lead early and caused Lafayette to call a timeout just under four minutes in. Lafayette then had their turn with a run and put ten unanswered points on the board to end the quarter up 18-12. Morgan McMahon started the scoring off with a shot from behind the arc. Then the Raiders took the action to the paint with Tiasia McMillan grabbing the defensive board and coming away with a deuce from the paint. Sophia Diehl added five points of her own to extend the lead to eight. After the Leopards called a time out, they responded with seven unanswered of their own. Alexa Naessens put in a layup off an assist from Taylor Golembiewski but then the Leopards added nine more points to end the quarter.

Colgate outscored Lafayette in the second quarter, 11-7. McMillan went to the stripe first to sink her first of two, followed up by a steal from Golembiewski who covered the floor and finished with a layup. The Raiders had closed the gap to three. Lafayette responded with a three, but Diehl added one of her own and on the next set of plays made her second of two foul shots. McMahon tied up the score at 21 with two of her own free throws but the Leopards responded at the other end of the court. Brodie continued her excellence at the charity stripe to add two of her own to tie it up at 23. The Leopards added one more basket before the buzzer to leave the court up 25-23.

In the third quarter, the Raiders came out of the locker room hot. Two three-point baskets by McMahon and Brodie put the Raiders up by four points. Golembiewski was fouled on a breakaway and sank both of her shots. Jenna Paul took her turn sinking threes and scored off a nice assist from Brodie who then continued to dish out the assists on the next basket when she fed the ball to Diehl for a layup. The lead was up to seven. Golembiewski brought the lead back to seven with her driving layup after Lafayette had responded with two free throws. The Raiders led 38-33 at the end of the third quarter.

Entering the fourth quarter, Colgate held a five point lead. Brodie earned her sixth assist of the game as she fed McMillan the ball for her to lay it up and in the basket. Golembiewski was back at the foul line where she added two more to go 4-4 for the day at the stripe. Lafayette kept coming back and responding with points of their own. With just over five minutes to play, Diehl scored her last basket of the game to bring her total to 13 for the afternoon. Naessens put in her second basket of the day with just under four minutes to play off an assist from Golembiewski (her fourth of the day). Naessens went to the free throw line and added one of two shots but Lafayette kept closing the gap and was back to within two points at 47-45. Booth made her next trip to the stripe pay for the Leopards when she put both in, but after a carefully drafted play in the timeout called by Adeduntan, Tiasia McMillan took the inbound from McMahon and the victory was sealed with her layup. 

FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Ganiyat Adeduntan

"I am so proud of my team's fight. We've been talking about playing hard for a full 40 minutes and I feel like we did just that. We fought, we competed, and we were tough! All things we have only been able to show in stretches in other games. We have been in close game situations multiple times this season, so I am especially proud that the lessons and feedback we received from those games transferred over to this one. We earned this win and we will for sure celebrate it with the understanding that our focus has to quickly turn to Loyola Maryland who is our next opponent."

UP NEXT
The Raiders are back on the road to face off against Loyola on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in a game that can be viewed on ESPN+.