Box Score
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – So many similarities were evident between Tuesday's Colgate-Lehigh Patriot League Tournament First Round game and the thriller in Hamilton three days earlier.
These two teams were playing a rematch of their regular season finale won by Colgate that handed the Raiders the conference's ninth seed and Lehigh the eighth.
The key difference here was the outcome, however, as Mountain Hawks held off a late Raiders charge to win 59-49 and advance to a quarterfinal-round matchup at Navy.
Sarah Williams propelled Lehigh's early second-half surge by scoring 10 points between halftime and the first media timeout. The Mountain Hawks guard had scored just 15 total points in 100 minutes of basketball against Colgate this season before exploding for 14 points in Tuesday's final 20 minutes.
She tied teammate Katie O'Reilly for game scoring honors at 16.
"Sarah Williams did a great job, which opened it up for her teammates," Colgate head coach
Nicci Hays Fort said. "And we were missing shots, so we couldn't set up our pressure. That's what we were able to do Saturday, and then we were able to do it tonight again but not until the last eight minutes.
"They weren't bad shots, but we were missing shots and then scrambling back. And Sarah Williams did a great job."
Colgate matched exactly is statistical field goal numbers from Saturday's regular season sendoff against Lehigh. The Raiders for the second game in a row were 23-of-76 from the floor for 30.3 percent.
Two key differences that led to the change in result were Colgate's 2-for-23 showing from the arc and only a 1-of-2 scorecard at the free throw line. Lehigh finished 17-of-27 at the charity stripe.
Points at a Premium
Colgate trailed just 21-19 at intermission. Both teams shot in the mid-20 percent range during a rough and tumble opening 20 minutes, and Colgate wound up with its third-lowest halftime scoring total for the season.
Lauryn Kobiela had helped the Colgate cause with five straight points late in the period, lifting the Raiders to their first lead of the game at 17-15 with 4:24 remaining. When
Carole Harris (pictured above right) added a jumper, it looked like the Raiders might get a chance to test their 7-0 record this season when leading at the break.
But Lehigh's Elizabeth Sharlow scored the half's final six points over a 2:42 stretch to send the Mountain Hawks into the locker room with momentum.
And that's when Williams took over. By the time her 10-point spurt in the early stages of the second half was over, Lehigh led 35-24 with 16:31 showing.
The hosts built the advantage to as much as 48-28 with 8:39 to play before Colgate put forth one final charge to save the season.
Mariah Jones,
Kelly Reid and
Catherine Lewis combined for a 10-0 Raiders run that narrowed the gap to 48-38 with 4:49 left.
Colgate drew within 53-47 with 90 seconds showing, and the sharpshooting Lewis (pictured right) had a decent look at a 3-pointer with 1:08 to play. But Lewis drew iron and Lehigh converted six of its final eight free throw attempts.
"We could have folded but we didn't," Hays Fort said. "We kept fighting and we cut it to six."
Jones, Kobiela Shine
Jones couldn't duplicate her 25-point effort from Saturday against Lehigh, but she did score 12 after being blanked in the first half because of early foul trouble. Kobiela added 11 to go with five assists and three steals.
"Coach wanted us to keep fighting and we did," Jones said. "We wanted to really scramble them and get them off balance. We forced them into 22 turnovers, which shows we were able to get in the passing lanes and make them cough it up.
"We just didn't finish a couple of shots down the stretch."
Other scoring for the Raiders belonged to
Randyll Butler (pictured right) with eight, Reid and Harris with six apiece, and then Lewis,
Jackie Hudepohl and
Josie Stockill with two points each. Butler just missed tying her career high with 10 rebounds.
The Raiders' defense did wonders on Lehigh scoring leader Kerry Kinek, holding her to just three points on 1-of-6 shooting after she had scored 22 in Saturday's meeting. Kinek managed to grab 13 rebounds, all on the defensive glass.
"I'm disappointed for this team, just because it could have ended so very differently," Hays Fort said. "But I'm happy because they could have folded back in February and they didn't. They chose to fight back.
"Our goal to close the regular season was win three of four, and we did. We fought really hard and then we maybe just ran out of gas. I'm proud of the way we fought the entire season, but especially tonight."
