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HAMILTON – Lulu Brase picked an excellent time to be playing her best basketball.

Colgate's senior center scored a career high in points for the second time in three games and helped the Raiders to their largest margin of victory in a decade, 72-36 here Thursday night over NJIT. Brase scored 15 points and nearly posted her first collegiate double-double with a game-high nine rebounds.

Next up for the Raiders is a trip to Charlotte – Brase's hometown – to meet the 10-3 49ers.

“I'm going home and I can't wait to play on Sunday,” a beaming Brase said. “Lots and lots of family and friends will be there to see us, so I'm really excited.

“Charlotte's very good, but we're coming off a good win and it's a big confidence boost.”

Brase topped her career high of nine points set just two games ago at Iona, and she was one carom shy of her career mark in rebounds set in that same contest. The senior was 6-of-9 from the floor Thursday night and 3-of-4 at the line.

“Our guards did a great job of finding me,” Brase said. “We've been working a lot on our inside-outside game, and the guards really did a great job finding us in the post and we were able to finish.”

The Raiders, now 6-7, have won two in a row and four of their last six with the Charlotte game remaining before the start of Patriot League play Jan. 12 at American. Colgate went 8-22 last year in the debut season for head coach Nicci Hays Fort.

“Tonight was a great team win,” Hays Fort said. “We did a really good job of executing the game plan. To hold a team to 36 points is a great effort. They had no one in double figures and we held their best player (Rayven Johnson) 13 points under her average – and those points all came on free throws.

“That's just all about the team defense. They really bought into the game plan and really executed it.”

Biggest Victory Margin Since …
Thursday's victory also was the largest winning margin for Colgate since the Raiders defeated Puerto Rico-Mayaguez 84-37 at the 2001 San Juan Shootout. It was the biggest win over a fellow Division I opponent since Colgate opened the 1990-91 season with an 86-48 victory at Northeastern.

Hays Fort said all wins are important, and this one came about simply because the team stayed focused throughout.

“I had to get on them here and there, but that's OK; That's OK,” she said. “The last media timeout, we wanted to play a game within a game. We wanted to win the last four minutes and do this on offense and that on defense. And we did.”

Colgate scored the game's first seven points and led by as many as 22 in the opening half before settling for a 41-22 advantage at intermission. Layups were plentiful thanks to good ball work, and the Raiders continue to get production throughout the lineup.

Colgate scored 34 points in the paint to just six by NJIT, and the Raiders bench outscored their counterparts 35-12.

“That inside-outside balance is huge for our team,” Hays Fort said. “Lulu had a great game – almost a double-double. Fifteen points and nine rebounds in 19 minutes is a pretty good night.”

NJIT's Rayven Johnson entered Thursday's game averaging 17.2 points, but the Raiders held her to just four. Johnson was 0-of-6 from the field.

“We challenged them at the half to see if we could hold their star under 10 points because she had two and they might look to go to her a ton,” Hays Fort said. “We just did a great job all around.”

Colgate held NJIT to just 14 points in the second half and finished the game having committed only 10 turnovers for the second outing in a row. The Raiders shot 42.4 percent from the floor to NJIT's 26.5 percent, and Colgate converted nine of its 11 free-throw attempts to keep that season mark trending in the right direction.

The Raiders are back up to 72.2 percent from the line for the year.

League Leaders Shine
Jhazmine Lynch added 11 points, three steals (she's the conference leader in that category) and three assists for another fine outing. Reigning Patriot League Player of the Week Mariah Jones chipped in 10 points for the winners, while league assist leader Lauryn Kobiela boosted her season total by six to 56.

No NJIT player reached double figures in scoring and the Highlanders were paced by nine points from Melanie Griffin.

Colgate travels to Charlotte on Sunday for a 2 p.m. tip.

“It's not a make-or-break game, which is nice,” Hays Fort said of the trek south. “A coach asked me why we would play a team like this right before Patriot League starts and I was like, 'Why not?' We're 6-7 and, if we knock down some shots, have a great opportunity to be 7-7 and beat another top-100 team.

“Plus, to be able to get Lulu and Lauryn home is big. Hopefully will be a great trip.”