HAMILTON – The Colgate women's basketball team never trailed Saturday afternoon at Cotterell Court, as it blew past Bucknell, 71-46, for its sixth straight victory to match the program's longest winning streak since the end of the 2003-04 season.
The sides were separated by just four points after 10 minutes of play, but the Raiders outscored the Bison by a 12-point margin in the second quarter to start to pull away. A 9-0 run late in the third quarter from Colgate ultimately put the hammer down to grow the lead to an insurmountable 27 points.
Taylor Golembiewski came hot out of the gates to open the day, as she scored the Raiders' first three buckets and had eight points in the opening 10 minutes to help establish the host's early edge.
A Bucknell layup just over a minute into the second quarter made it a 16-14 game, but the Bison never got any closer. Madison Schiller and Golembiewski drained back-to-back three-pointers in the ensuing minute and a half to stretch the lead to eight. Colgate's run continued after that, as Sophia Diehl made a lay-in, followed by another Schiller three, then Tiasia McMillan knocked down a jumper to close the run at 13-0 and bust open a 15-point lead.
Bucknell looked to make another comeback bid, but Schiller drained three-pointers on two straight possessions, then Ella Meabon converted from deep with 43 seconds left in the half to send the teams to the locker room with Colgate in front 40-24.
The Raiders, who came into the afternoon ranked 18th in the nation in scoring defense, held the Bison at bay in the third quarter with just nine points allowed to put the contest away for good.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Colgate continued to be scorching hot shooting the ball from behind the arc, as it finished the day with eight shots made on 13 attempts for a 61.5% success rate. The Raiders are now shooting 70.3% from three in Patriot League play, which leads the conference by a sizable margin.
Golembiewski and Schiller both finished with 14 points to tie for the team lead in scoring and Meabon also reached double figures with 12 points on the day. Meabon also reeled in a career-high six rebounds, which also paced the Raiders.
Alexa Brodie nearly set a new career-high, as she dished out a game-high eight assists. She had an active all-around performance with seven points, four rebounds and a block to go along with her season-high total in assists. Tiasia McMillan tied her career-high in steals, as she finished the day with a trio of thefts.
With the victory, the Raiders maintained a share of first place in the Patriot League standings and the win also marked the first 4-0 start in league play for the program since the 1990-91 season.
Colgate's six-game overall winning streak also matches the program's longest since the end of the 2003-04 season when the Raiders' sixth straight victory was over American in the Patriot League championship. Eventual national runner-up, Tennessee, put an end to that streak in the NCAA Tournament.
UP NEXT
Colgate looks for its seventh consecutive victory Wednesday morning when it welcomes Army to Cotterell Court for Kids Day. Tip time is set for 11 a.m.
