LEWISBURG, Pa. – For the first time since the 2014-15 season, Colgate women's basketball bashed Bucknell 64-52 in overtime. The win also marks the first victory at Bucknell since the 2003-04 season.
Guard
Morgan McMahon tied her career-high 24 points to lead the Raiders to their fourth Patriot League win.
The game started scoreless for almost four minutes till a foul on Bucknell brought
Jenna Paul to the foul line to make a free throw. The Bisons made up for the foul with an 8-0 run to take a seven-point lead.
Back-to-back three-pointers from sophomores McMahon and
Sophia Diehl had the Raiders trailing by one point.
Taylor Golembiewski scored a layup to take a 9-8 Colgate lead. The Bison scored a layup to break up the run, but the Raiders drained back-to-back field goals from McMahon and
Tiasia McMillan to end the first with a 16-10 lead. McMahon scored eight first-period points.
Bucknell opened the second period with a layup and missed an extra point basket to trail by four points. The Bison then went to the charity stripe and made two free throws to trail 16-14. McMahon then went to the line to score a pair of points to bump Colgate's lead back to four points.
The Bison then scored four unanswered points to tie the game at 18. McMahon took another trip to the foul line making one basket to get Colgate the lead back. The Bison then scored a long two points to lead 20-19.
Another foul on the Raiders allowed Bucknell to score two free throws to lead by three points. Colgate responded with a 4-0 run from Golembiewski and freshman
Christina Midgette to lead 23-22, but a 6-0 run from the Bison pushed the five points ahead of Colgate with less than a minute left of the first half. A bounce pass from
Alexa Brodie to McMillan had the Raiders trailing 28-25 to end the second period.
Bucknell opened the second half with two free throws that bumped their lead to five points. Freshman
Madison Schiller responded for Colgate with a layup to cut the deficit to 30-27. The Bison answered right back, with a 6-0 run to lead by nine points.
Bucknell then scored two more field goals to lead 40-27, their largest lead of the game. A foul on the Bison brought McMillan to the line, but she wasn't able to disrupt the run. McMahon then went to the charity stripe and scored two baskets to cut the Bison's lead to 11 points.
Chidinma Okafor kept the Raider offense going, scoring a field goal with a little under a minute left in the third period. Schiller ended the period at the foul line, making a free throw to cut Bucknell's lead to 40-32.
The Bisons opened the fourth with a 4-0 run to extend their lead to 12 points. Diehl drew a foul, scored a free throw, and then a three-pointer to break up the run. Bucknell then drew a foul and made a free throw to lead 45-36.
With less than five minutes left in the game, the Raiders went on a 4-0 run to trail by only five points, with McMahon and Golembiewski scoring the field goals. Golembiewski and McMahon then scored two more field goals to cut Bucknell's lead to one. McMahon was fouled on her shot to complete the three-point play to tie the game at 45.
Golembiewski then scored a layup to take a two-point lead for the Raiders. Bucknell responded quickly with a layup with less than two minutes left. McMillan sank a field goal to give Colgate a 49-47 lead.
The Bison tied the game again at 49 with less than 40 seconds left of the fourth to force overtime. Golembiewski led the Raiders with six points in the fourth period.
The Raiders dominated the extra period of play as McMahon opened overtime with the winning jumper that gave Colgate a two-point lead. A foul on Bucknell brought Brodie to the charity stripe to sink two free throws to bump Colgate's lead to 53-49. McMahon scored another jumper to keep the run going at six points.
Bucknell scored their first point in overtime at the foul line to cut the deficit to five points. The Bisons then drew another foul and scored two points to only be behind by three.
McMillan grabbed an offensive rebound and scored a field goal to bump the lead to 57-52. A foul on Bucknell allowed McMahon to score two more free throws to push the Raiders' lead to seven points with a minute and a half left of overtime. Schiller then scored Colgate's sixth straight point to secure the lead at 61-52.
The Bison tried to make a push, going on a 5-1 run to trail 62-57, but luckily for Colgate, it was too late for a Bucknell comeback, as Golembiewski ended the game at the charity stripe, scoring two points.
NOTES
- Golembiewski rounded out the double-figure scoring with 12 points.
- Colgate moves to 2-1 in overtime games this season.
- Eleven of 23 combined overtime points came from the foul line.
- Brodie led the Raiders in rebounds, capturing a career-high seven.
- The Raiders outscored the Bison 15-8 in overtime.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Women's Basketball Coach Ganiyat Adeduntan
"Any win is hard, but to win on the road in the manner in which we won is impressive. We played with a lot of heart, determination, and pride. It's nice to see all the hard work the team has been doing transfer over in this game.
"We had a lot of people step up in different moments, but it was our defense that was the deciding factor in the game.
"To have Morgan come off the bench and support us the way she did was huge. We had moments in the game where we were struggling to score, and she had the confidence and ability to do it.
"We keep talking about playing to win, and I feel like we did that today despite some of the ups and downs."
UP NEXT
Colgate (10-7, 4-2 PL) returns to Hamilton on Wednesday, Jan. 18, for a morning matchup with Holy Cross. The Crusaders come to Cotterell Court for an 11 a.m. scheduled tip-off.
