This Week
Tuesday, January 13- at Lafayette, 7 p.m. (Patriot League All-Access)
Saturday, January 16 – American, 2 p.m. (Patriot League All-Access
The Raiders will take on two conference opponents this week first facing Lafayette on the road, followed by their Patriot League home-opener against American. The Leopards will host Colgate this Wednesday, Jan. 13 at 7 p.m. in Easton, Pa. The Raiders then return home to Cotterell Court hosting their first conference match-up of the 2009-10 season.
Scouting the Leopards
Lafayette opened their Patriot League slate with a 43-39 victory against Holy Cross, making it the first time in three years the Leopards have won their league opener. The squad is currently 3-12 overall for 2009-10 and hold a 1-0 mark in league play. The Leopards two other wins came against Penn and Monmouth, with losses against a ranked James Madison squad, Iowa State and St. Bonaventure. Lauren Jackson leads all Lafayette scorers averaging 11.7 points per game followed by LaKeisha Wright with 11.1 points and a team high 4.3 rebounds per game. Melissa Downey leads the team in assists and steals dishing out 2.6 assists per game and 1.3 steals. Head coach Tammy Smith is in her ninth season at the helm of the Lafayette women's basketball program after leading the 2008-09 team to the conference championship game, becoming the first-ever No. 7 seed to reach that mark.
Scouting the Eagles
American also started off the league 1-0 after defeating the conference top pre-season pick, Lehigh, 69-65 in overtime. The Eagles are currently 8-7 overall after going 3-3 in their last six games with wins against Lehigh, Maryland-Eastern Shore and Buffalo. American's last three losses came against Columbia, St. Francis (Pa.) and Maryland. Junior Michelle Kirk, who was named the Patriot League Player of the Week, leads American in scoring averaging 19.9 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Classmate Liz Leer tops the Eagles in rebounding and blocks averaging 6.0 boards per game along with 1.9 blocks and 11.9 points. Matt Corkery is in his second year as head coach of the women's program after leading the Eagles to a 19-12 overall mark during the 2008-09 season. Corkery brought American to their second consecutive postseason appearance last year falling to James Madison, 61-59, in the first round of the WNIT.
Last Time Out
Freshman Jhazmine Lynch (San Diego, Calif.) scored a career-high 19 points and sophomore Tricia Oakes (Evergreen, Colo.) added 11 points and five rebounds, but it wasn't enough as the Colgate women's basketball team fell to Army, 63-57, in its Patriot League opener. The loss dropped the Raiders to 5-10 overall and 0-1 to start off league play, while the Black Knights improved to 7-8 overall and 1-0 in the conference. The two teams traded baskets throughout the first half as the Raiders went into the half-time break with a 28-26 advantage. Army opened the second half with a 13-3 run, but Colgate inched its way back to tie the game 49-49 with 3:44 remaining. The Black Knights would close the game with an 11-0 run to claim the conference win.
Series vs. Lafayette/American
Lafayette – The Leopards hold a 29-24 lead in the all-time series against the Raiders. The two teams split their series last year with Lafayette claiming the first meeting at Cotterell Court, 64-52, while Colgate defeated the Leopards on the road, 62-61, on Feb. 11, 2009.
Tayler Wejnert (Ramsey, N.J.) led the Raiders with 16 points in the win.
Kelly Korkowski (Williamsburg, Va.) added a career-high 11 points and classmate
Candice Green (East Brunswick, N.J.) picked up 10 with then senior
Gretchen Polinski grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.
American – The Raiders will face the Eagles for the 22nd time in series history with American holding a 15-6 advantage all-time after Colgate dropped both meetings last season. The Raiders are 2-6 against American on Cotterell Court.
Sami Kozlowski (New Market, Md.) had 14 points in the Colgate loss, followed by
Tayler Wejnert with nine points and a game-high seven boards.
Leading the Way
Junior Sami Kozlowski is currently leading the Raiders in scoring with an average of 10.9 points and 2.4 assists per game, while sophomore Tricia Oakes is averaging 10.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Rookie Jhazmine Lynch is third in scoring and leads the freshmen class with 8.9 points and 1.6 steals per game. Junior Krista Moser leads the squad in rebounding averaging 5.8 per game along with 5.7 points.
Promotions
Jan. 16 - Post-game autograph session with the team and a free women's basketball schedule cup.
Weekly Honors
Colgate freshman Jhazmine Lynch was named the Patriot League Anaconda Rookie of the Week for the week ending Dec. 6. It marked the second time this season that Lynch has been honored with the award. The rookie guard had 21 points, five rebounds, and seven assists last week. Lynch scored 12 points and had four assists against Bryant last Tuesday. On Thursday, she picked up nine points, two steals and three assists. The Rookie of the Week award has gone to a Colgate student-athlete 10 times since the start of last season.
Top Returners
The Raiders return 10 players to this year's squad, including four starters from the 2008-09 season. Junior
Tayler Wejnert returns to the Colgate squad after appearing in 20 games last season. Wejnert led the team in scoring averaging 11.7 points per game, followed by fellow junior
Sami Kozlowski who averaged 9.7 points and led the team in steals with 33 in 30 starts with the Raiders.
Tricia Oakes led Colgate on the boards as a freshman, pulling down 6.0 rebounds in 22 games. Sophomore
Candice Green also started in all 30 games for the Raiders last season averaging 6.5 points and 2.5 rebounds.
Preseason Picks
The Colgate women's basketball team was picked to finish seventh in the 2010 Patriot League preseason coaches and sports information directors poll. Defending champion Lehigh was selected to repeat this year, with 97 total points and 13-first place votes. Following the Mountain Hawks in order are American (76, 3 first-place), Holy Cross (76), Navy (54), Bucknell (52), Army (50), Colgate (22) and Lafayette (21). Lehigh's Erica Prosser was chosen as the Preseason Player of the Year.
Rookie Trio
