NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Colgate women's basketball falls 65-56 on the road to Merrimack.
Fouls dictated the pace of the game, as a combined 34 trips to the charity stripe were taken, with 26 points scored.
Merrimack opened the scoring by going on a 6-0. An offensive rebound by freshman
Christina Midgette allowed
Morgan McMahon to get the Raiders on the board.
Lindsay Blackmore kept the offense going for Colgate, scoring a pair of free throws to have Colgate trailing 6-4. Merrimack, making up for their foul, went on a 4-0 run to extend their lead to 10-4.
Another foul on the Warriors brought sophomore
Taylor Golembiewski to the charity stripe scoring two, to trim the lead to four points. Merrimack responded with a 7-0 run to bump their lead to 17-6. The Raiders ended the first period with a 4-0 run that had them trailing by seven points. Blackmore and Golembiewski accounted for 4-of-10 Colgate points.
Freshman
Madison Schiller opened up the scoring in the second quarter to have the Raiders trailing 17-12. Merrimack responded with two points, but a defensive rebound by
Jenna Paul started a 5-0 run that had the Raiders trailing by only two points. Paul scored 3-of-5 points in the run. Merrimack retaliated with a three-pointer, but Paul responded with her second straight three-point field goal.
Merrimack added two points to lead 24-20, but Paul scored another three-pointer to have the Raiders behind by one. Colgate caught a spark, going on a 5-2 run to lead the game for the first time at 28-26. Paul was responsible for 3-of-5 points in the run.
The Warriors responded right back, with a layup to have the game tied at 28, then another to take their lead back by two points. Schiller responded for Colgate, tying the game back up at 30. Schiller ended the first half with a buzzer-beating three-pointer to have Colgate lead 33-30. Paul scored 12-of-23 Raider second-period points.
Alexa Brodie opened the second half by scoring two to extend Colgate's lead to five points. Merrimack responded with a three-pointer to have their deficit at two points. The Warriors tied the game up at 35 after taking a trip to the foul line.
Tiasia McMillan got the lead back for the Raiders, but Merrimack responded right back, tying the game again at 37. An offensive rebound by Schiller kept the ball in Colgate's possession, which then led to
Nicole Parks taking a trip to the charity stripe for Colgate, but nothing more came from the Raiders, keeping the game tied.
The Warriors then broke the tie to lead 40-37. Merrimack kept pushing, scoring another two points to lead by five points. The Warriors then took a foul, leading
Sophia Diehl to score a pair of throws to have Colgate trail 42-39.
Merrimack responded with a 4-2 run, with Colgate's two points coming from Diehl. Golembiewski scored the final point in the third period to have Colgate trailing 46-42 with 10 minutes left of regulation. Diehl scored 4-of-9 Raider points in the period.
Merrimack opened the fourth period with two points to lead by six points. Golembiewski responded, going on a 5-0 run to have the Raiders trail 48-47. A foul on Colgate had Merrimack shooting for two at the line to bump their lead to three points. Golembiewski scored another two points to have Colgate trail by only one for the second straight possession.
Merrimack then had another opportunity for free points, scoring one at the foul line to lead 51-49. Another foul on the Raiders had Merrimack scoring two to bring their lead to four points. Colgate was fouled for the third straight time, with Merrimack only scoring one, to lead 54-49.
The Raiders received another foul, allowing Merrimack to score two more points to extend the deficit to seven points. Colgate finally got a chance at the foul line and scored one to trail 56-50.
Merrimack looked to squish a Raider comeback, going on a 5-3 run to lead 61-53 with about two minutes left in the game.
Unfortunately for Colgate, that was enough time for Merrimack to secure the win, ending the game with a 4-2 run. Fouls seemed to be the trend of the fourth quarter, as 15-of-29 points scored came from free throws.
NOTES
- Midgette and Abbey Ferguson made their collegiate debuts for the Raiders.
- Paul led the Raiders with 15 points, followed by Golembiewski with 14.
- Both Golembiewski and Paul captured five rebounds.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Women's Basketball Coach Ganiyat Adeduntan
"This is another game we can take a lot from and grow. Unfortunately, we didn't start the game with enough effort and energy on the defensive end, which allowed Merrimack to go on a run.
"It took us a while to get going. If you can't start the game and play the whole 40 minutes, it makes it much more difficult to be successful.
"I'm pleased to see we showed fight and resiliency yet again, but we need it for the whole 40 minutes. We have to find a way to play for the entire game and start the game strong.
"We're looking forward to getting back to practice to work on the things we need to improve as we prepare to take on a great opponent in Harvard in less than a week."
UP NEXT
Colgate (3-3, 0-0 PL) heads to Cambridge on Saturday, Dec. 3, to take on Harvard at 3 p.m. inside the Lavietes Pavilion.
