HAMILTON, N.Y. (3/6/09) -   The No. 8 seeded Colgate University women's basketball team will kick off post-season play this Saturday, March 7 when they take on the No. 1 seed, Lehigh University in the quarterfinal round of the Patriot League Tournament.  The two teams will tip-off at noon at Lehigh's Stabler Arena.

Lehigh University will serve as the host school for the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the 2009 Patriot League Women's Basketball Tournament Saturday March 7- Sunday March 8.  Tickets for the 2009 Patriot League Women's Basketball Tournament are currently on sale through the Lehigh ticket office.  Fans can purchase tickets by calling (610) 758-4263 or through Lehigh's Athletic website at www.lehighsports.com. 

Colgate and Lehigh will be meeting in the Patriot League Tournament for the fifth time overall.  The Raiders are 2-2 all-time against the Mountain Hawks in postseason play with Colgate winning the most recent meeting in the 2005 semifinals.  The Raiders won that last postseason meeting 65-60, to advance to the final round of the Tournament.

The Mountain Hawks won both regular season meetings in 2009, defeating Colgate 61-43 in Bethlehem, Pa. and 71-42 in Hamilton.  Lehigh leads the all-time series 25-21 overall and has a 15-8 advantage when playing on their home court.  Colgate's last Patriot League Tournament win was in 2007, when the eighth-seeded Raiders upset top-seeded Bucknell, 69-62.

Colgate heads into the tournament with a 5-24 overall record and 1-13 mark in league play.  The Raiders are led on offense by sophomores Tayler Wejnert (Ramsey, N.J.) and Sami Kozlowski (New Market, Md.).  Wejnert leads all scorers with 11.1 points per game and 9.3 points in conference play.  Kozlowski is averaging 9.7 points per game and 8.6 in league play, while handing out 3 assists per outing.  Patriot League All-Rookie honoree Tricia Oakes (Evergreen, Colo.) leads the Raiders on the boards averaging 6.3 rebounds per game, followed by Georgia Gier (Mercer Island, Wash.) with 5.2 per outing.  Senior Gretchen Polinski (Mansfield, Ohio) tops Colgate on the boards in conference play averaging 5.8 rebounds against Patriot League teams. 

Lehigh heads into the weekend 23-6 overall and 12-2 in the conference and is the only Patriot League team undefeated on their home court this season.  The Mountain Hawks have won 10 of their last 11 games which included a nine-game winning streak.  Erica Prosser, a First-Team All-Patriot League selection, leads Lehigh with 14.4 points per game and is the top scorer among all players in conference play, averaging 15.9 points per contest.  Second-Team selection Alex Ross follows with 13.4 points per outing.  Tricia Smith leads the Mountain Hawks on the boards with 5.7 rebounds per game.  Lehigh leads the league in scoring averaging 67.9 points per game, while shooting 43.1 percent.  The Mountain Hawks have held opponents to an average of just 56.9 points this season.  

The winner of the game advances to play the winner of the No. 4 Holy Cross/No. 5 Army game on March 8.