Box Score

WORCESTER, Mass. – On a snowy Wednesday night at Holy Cross, Missy Repoli poured in her second straight season high with 20 points but Colgate came up short, 79-56.

Colgate (5-17, 1-10 PL) saw Repoli shoot the ball very well, going 8-of-11 from the floor (career high field goals made) as well as 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. The junior scored 19 Saturday at Bucknell, and Raiders head coach Nicci Hays Fort is glad to see her scoring threat emerge.

"Missy was really hot from the floor and attacked very well," Hays Fort said.  "It was good to see her come out and attack. She also looked for her shot and was an offensive threat for us."

Carole Harris finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, with eight points coming in the second half.

Randyll Butler provided a lift off the bench in the second half to end up with a team-high eight boards, three of those coming on the offensive side. She also added eight points and had three assists.

"I thought Randyll gave as a lot of energy in the second," Hays Fort said. "She provided us with some rebounding and that is what we had to do."

Holy Cross (14-8, 6-5 PL) had three players in double-figures, led by Raquel Scott with 15. Scott also had a game-high eight dimes. Molly Hourigan recorded nine points, seven boards and three blocks for the Crusaders.

The Crusaders opened the game on fire with a quick 12-2 advantage in the first four minutes. Lisa Milfsud had five of the first 12 points for Holy Cross.

Colgate chipped away at the lead and got it down to 31-24 with 5:22 left in the opening half thanks to quick 8-0 run, highlighted by back-to-back buckets by Harris. Repoli helped the run with two of her 10 first-half points.

Holy Cross then lived at the free throw line for the final five minutes with seven of its final 11 points in the half coming from the charity stripe. The Raiders cut the lead to 35-27 after a long-range three from Catherine Lewis, but the Crusaders pushed the advantage up to 42-31 at the break.

Repoli led all Colgate scorers with 10 points by that stage and both teams shot the exact same shooting percentage at 43.3 percent from the floor (13-of-30). The big difference was the free throws, with the Crusaders earning a 13-2 advantage from the line.

The Raiders were able cut the lead down to seven at 44-37 with 16:49 remaining in the game after a 6-0 run, with Butler and Harris adding layups while Repoli hit a jumper from the outside.

Colgate was able to keep the Holy Cross advantage to around 10 points, but the Crusaders pushed the lead up to 20 points at 62-42 with a 13-4 run thanks to four points from Emily Parker and a pair of 3-pointers by Kate Gillespie and Alex Smith. The Raiders couldn't recover after the run and dropped a 79-56 decision on the road.

"The game came down to rebounding and we were able to keep it close because we were rebounding early in the second half," Hays Fort added. "We were making some good decisions on offense as well. We switched the lineup to give us some energy, but then they started to get some easy hoops and second-chance points. We just lost their shooters a couple of times and they're too good of shooters to lose."

The free throws were highly in favor of the home team as Holy Cross made 19-of-21 from the stripe and the Raiders had just four chances and sank three. The Crusaders shot 48.2 percent from the floor, while Colgate was at 40.7 percent. Turnovers were a big story in the game as Colgate had 20 to Holy Cross' 14. The Crusaders turned Colgate mistakes into 23 points. The bench for the Raiders outscored Holy Cross by a 33-23 margin, including Repoli's 20 points.

The Raiders are back on the court Saturday hosting American at 4 p.m. at Cotterell Court.