HAMILTON – No. 4 Colgate women's basketball fell 55-50 in the Patriot League quarterfinals to the fifth-seed Army Black Knights on Monday evening at Cotterell Court.
Fouls ruled the final 10 minutes as 19-of-35 fourth-period points were from the charity stripe. Army drew 14 opportunities at the line, making 11 free throws in the period, with eight coming from the last five minutes to push past Colgate to advance to the semifinal round.
Tiasia McMillan led the Raiders with a team-high 14 points and eight rebounds. McMillan shot 40 percent from the field, making 4-of-10 field goals attempted.
Taylor Golembiewski rounded out the double-digit scoring with 12 points.
Morgan McMahon added eight points from the bench and dished out a team-high four assists.
Three straight 3-pointers and a free throw from the Black Knights put Army ahead 12-2 with 5:26 left of the first. McMillan slashed the run with a layup that started a 9-0 Raider run that cut the lead to a point with 1:57 on the clock. A free throw from sophomore
Sophia Diehl furthered the run to 10 points to tie the game at 12. McMahon scored 4-of-10 points in the run. The fourth trey from the Black Knights in the period stopped the burst to end the first with Army up three.
Colgate started a 6-2 run at 8:51 of the second to tie the contest at 18. McMillan,
Alexa Brodie, and Golembiewski scored in the run. Army cut the burst with 6:48 on the clock, but a 4-2 Raider run with baskets from Brodie and Diehl notched the game up at 22.
A jumper from the Black Knights pushed Army ahead by two with less than three minutes left of the period. Golembiewski drew a foul and scored a free throw to close the deficit to a point to end the first half.
Army scored four quick points coming out of the halftime break at 7:01 to lead 31-27. Back-to-back baskets from Golembiewski and McMillan tied the game for the eighth time at 31 with 5:28 on the clock.
Five straight points from the Black Knights put Army ahead by five with 3:42 left of the period. Both teams ended the third at the line, with McMahon scoring two to slash the deficit to 37-33.
Four straight points at the charity stripe from McMillan cut the lead to two points with 8:54 left of the fourth. The Black Knights retaliated with five unanswered points, with three coming from free throws to lengthen their lead to 44-37 with 6:44 on the clock.
McMillan drew a foul to end the burst, scoring her fifth and sixth points at the foul line in the quarter to slice the lead to five.
Feeling the pressure, Army scored six quick points to lead by 10 with 2:59 on the clock. Freshman
Lara Cook started a 6-0 run with the other four points coming from Brodie, reducing the lead to 50-46 with less than a minute left of the game.
With a little over 30 seconds on the clock, a foul on Colgate allowed Army to score a pair at the line to push the deficit to six. The Raiders tried to make a late push with a 4-2 run with field goals coming from McMahon and Cook to cut the lead even shorter to four. Unfortunately for Colgate, the Black Knights drew a foul with nine seconds left and scored a free throw to finalize the game at 55-50.
NOTES
- Even though the game was tied eight different times, the Black Knights never gave up the lead.
- Freshman Madison Schiller co-led the defensive efforts, with McMillan capturing eight boards.
- The Raiders end the 2022-23 season 16-14, the best finish for the program since the 2019-20 season.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Women's Basketball Coach Ganiyat Adeduntan
"Tough game for us. We knew Army was going to come out strong and competitive, and we needed to match that. We had some good stretches, and some stretches where we were struggling.
"Altogether, I could not be prouder of the effort that our players played with tonight. They came out and competed, and they wanted it. To be able to see them recommit and reconnect in the last five weeks gave us the opportunity to host.
"We can't take away anything this team has done because they have done a great job. They have done what I have asked of them and kept their heads high. As a coach, I couldn't be prouder of what they have been able to do day in and day out."
