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HAMILTON – Colgate rallied for a late lead over Cornell, but the visitors answered with 10 straight points of their own to pull out a 69-65 decision here Friday night.

Cornell (1-0) held its largest lead of the second half, 53-46, with just under 10 minutes to play when Colgate began its rally. Consecutive layups from Missy Repoli and Carole Harris narrowed the gap to three, before Mariah Jones buried a trey from the right wing to tie the game with 7:38 to play.

And Colgate wasn't done there.

After an exchange of baskets, Harris scored on a layup and a jumper and freshman Josie Stockill added a rebound put-back to make it 61-55 Raiders.

“At that point, I was thinking we needed to take care of the ball and make layups,” Colgate head coach Nicci Hays Fort said. “Obviously, we had some turnovers down the stretch and we didn't make layups.”

Those missed opportunities and the Cornell duo of Clare Fitzpatrick and Allyson DiMango were just too decisive down the stretch. Guard Stephanie Long converted a three-point play – after the Big Red grabbed two offensive rebounds – and then Fitzpatrick did the same to push Cornell back into the lead at 63-60 with 1:46 remaining.

“We knew that coming in that those two players were very good,” Hays Fort said. “We knew 24 (Fitzpatrick) was going to be especially tough. Luckily, she got in foul trouble and that's when we went ahead.

“And then we just couldn't capitalize; we couldn't hold onto the lead.”

DiMango finished off the 10-0 run with a layup at the 1-minute mark, making the score 65-61. From that point, Colgate never could get the defensive stops to make it a one-possession game.

Playing Catchup
Colgate was playing from behind to start both halves. The Raiders led 3-2 early before Cornell went on an 11-2 run to make it 13-5 – the Big Red's largest lead of the game. But the Raiders fought back despite being out-shot from the field 46 percent to 36 percent, and pulled within 29-28 at halftime.

But again to start the second half, Cornell immediately broke ahead 34-28 and led throughout until Colgate staged its late rally.

“We started the game in that hole and it seemed like the second half was the same exact way,” Hays Fort said. “We're going to have to do something to start out with a little more urgency than we did in both the first and second half.

“We had some good runs; basketball is a game of runs. We just can't start out on the opposite end of the good run. We've got to at least stay even to start.”

Repoli and Stockill were Colgate's double-figure scorers with 11 and 10, respectively, while Harris, Jhazmine Lynch and Lulu Brase added eight points apiece.

“Really sad about the loss and we fought really hard, but it was so exciting to be out there after all the practice; it was pretty fun,” said Stockill of her collegiate debut. “I had to be physical, but we've been pretty physical in practice and I just had to channel that into the game.”

Colgate missed the services of sophomore forward Kelly Reid, who injured her ankle in practice last week. Reid's status remains day-to-day.

”It will be great to have her back on the court,” Stockill said. “It's been really hard having her out of trainings, practices and all that, but hopefully she will be back quickly.”

Fitzpatrick finished with a game-high 19 points for Cornell, while DiMango added 16 points and 13 rebounds. The Big Red out-rebounded Colgate 37-30.

Colgate (0-1) forced 22 turnovers, aided by 13 steals. Lynch and Harris were the team's steals leader with four apiece. Colgate sparkled from the free-throw line, making 14 of 16, and the Colgate bench held a substantial 26-4 scoring edge over Cornell.

The Raiders are home again Sunday afternoon with a 4 o'clock tip against Robert Morris.