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HAMILTON – It wasn't a work of art, but Colgate's hard work in the second half paid off with a 49-36 defeat of Lafayette here Wednesday night.
 
The Raiders trailed 20-17 at halftime but then doubled up the Leopards 32-16 in the final 20 minutes. Colgate in the game forced 24 Lafayette turnovers – 12 in each half.
 
Randyll Butler had a hand in at least a third of those miscues as she tied the Colgate women's record for Cotterell Court with eight steals. Butler matched the home court mark set by Jen Smith vs. Hartford on Dec. 22, 1994.
 
Two weeks ago, Josie Stockill broke a Cotterell Court women's record with seven blocked shots in a win over Boston University.
 
Butler in addition to her thievery also led all scorers with 14 points. She accounted for Colgate's first seven points – it was Lafayette 16, Butler 7, until Mariah Jones connected near the eight-minute mark of the first half. Butler also pitched in seven rebounds, two assists and a career-tying two blocked shots.
 
Mariah Jones scored 12 points, including a pair of threes.
 

Lafayette was paced by Jamie O'Hare's 11 points and Maddie Peabody's 10 boards.
 
Colgate (7-21) pulled into a seventh-place tie with Lafayette (13-15) at 6-11 in Patriot League play. The Leopards hold the tiebreaker by virtue of an early-season win over second-place Army, but Colgate could move in front with a win Saturday at Lehigh. Lafayette finishes the season at Army.
 
The Raiders are assured of a first-round home game in the Patriot League tournament. If the standings hold as they are now, Colgate would host Loyola on Wednesday, March 4.
 
Colgate and Lehigh tip Saturday night in Bethlehem at 7:30 p.m.
 
Bottom Line
• Colgate 49, Lafayette 36
 
Won-Lost Records
• Colgate improved to 7-21 overall and 6-11 in the Patriot League.
• Lafayette is now 13-15 and 6-11.
 
Noteworthy
• Colgate reached six Patriot League wins for the first time since 2005-06.
• The Raiders posted four wins in their last five Patriot League home games after opening with four losses.
• Colgate also won consecutive games for the first time this season.
• The Raiders hadn't gone back-to-back since defeating Army and Loyola last February.
 

Facts & Figures
• Neither team shot 30 percent from the floor.
• Colgate finished 17-of-58 for 29.3 percent, while Lafayette was slightly better at 14-of-47 for 29.8.
• The Raiders were 3-of-10 from 3-point range to Lafayette's 3-of-14.
• Free-throw shooting favored Colgate, which was 12-of-14 to just 5-of-8 for the visitors.
• Lafayette outrebounded Colgate 43-34, but the Leopards committed a season-high 24 turnovers while the Raiders nearly had a season-low with nine.
• Colgate took advantage of those mistakes for a 14-0 edge in points-off-turnovers.
• There were only two ties and two lead changes.
• That's because this was a tale of two halves: Lafayette led for 18:40 of the first half and Colgate for 16:14 of the second half.
• The Raiders led just 35-32 with 7:23 remaining before ending the game on a 14-4 run.
 
Points at Premium
• Randyll Butler scored Colgate first seven points.
• In fact, the score was Lafayette 16, Butler 7, until Mariah Jones finally connected on a jumper with 8:12 left in the first half.
• That basket snapped a 7:20 Raiders scoring drought.
• Lafayette played along as well, posting first-half dry runs of 5:13 and 5:16.
• At halftime, when Colgate trailed 20-17, Butler was the only Raiders player with more than two points. She had nine.
 
More Key Info
• Butler led the Colgate scoring with 14 points. Jones added 12, Missy Repoli 8, Carole Harris 7, Josie Stockill 6 and Paige Kriftcher 2.
• Colgate outscored the Leopards 32-16 in the second half as Jones scored 10 of her 12.                               
• Butler tied the Colgate women's record for Cotterell Court with eight steals, easily surpassing her previous career-high of five. She matched the home court mark set by Jen Smith vs. Hartford on Dec. 22, 1994.
• The Cotterell Court women's record for steals by any player belongs to Ashley Linscott of Wagner. Linscott had nine in a game against the Raiders back on Nov. 24, 2002.                                                                                                              
• Stockill had four of Colgate's eight blocked shots and now has 58 for the season, 126 for her career.
• Jones nailed a couple of 3-pointers and moved into fourth place on Colgate's all-time list with 147. She passed Sami Kozlowski (2008-11), who had 146.
• Jones and Kozlowski remain tied for seventh on Colgate's career assist chart at 299.

• Repoli was 4-of-4 at the free-throw line and is 32-of-33 for the season, 97.0 percent.
• Lafayette's Jamie O'Hare scored 11 points to pace the Leopards, and Maddie Peabody pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.
 
Turning Point
• Colgate opened the game just 3-of-18 from the field and trailed 16-7 with 8:26 left in the first half.
• Butler was the only Raider who had scored to that point.
• Raiders head coach Nicci Hays Fort called timeout, and the team responded.
• It wasn't an overpower rally, but Colgate settled down and outscored Lafayette 10-4 the rest of the half. The Raiders trailed just 20-17 at intermission.
• Colgate grabbed the lead on a Jones 3-pointer before the first media timeout of the second half and never trailed again.
 
From the Sources
• Colgate head coach Nicci Hays Fort (On the game) "I'm very proud with how gritty we were in the second half, especially from about the 10-minute mark of the first half all the way in. We dug ourselves a hole and had to keep fighting. We mixed some things up on defense and the team really responded."
(On the second-half surge) "We kept getting stops and our defense just turned it up another notch. Randyll was the one in the huddle saying, 'This is when we have to win it. We have to turn it up right now.' And they did.
"We got stops, we got rebounds, we got some blocks, we got steals – we were all over the place."
(On Butler's stat line) "She had a great game. We need Randyll to play well because she is such a positive person for us on this team."
(On Lehigh) "It feels like we played them last season. We're different than we were Dec. 31, and they're different. Hopefully, we can be gritty and be road warriors.
"This is all about Colgate; we don't care what anyone else does. We've just got to take care of Colgate, staying focused on us and what we need to do to get better. We want to put ourselves in a good position for next week."
• Colgate guard Randyll Butler (On the game) "It was a great win. Everyone contributed and it was a great team effort. (Emily) Homan is a great player, so we wanted to pressure their guards and keep them from having easy looks into the post. We had a great team defense against her."

(On her eight steals) "I didn't know I had that many. I just wanted to be out there and play hard."
(On the second-half offense) "We were getting to the rim, but some shots weren't falling in the first half. Coach challenged us to keep attacking and reassured us the shots would fall."
 
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at Cotterell Court was 362.
 
Up Next
• Colgate concludes the regular season Saturday at Lehigh in a 7:30 p.m. start.
• The Raiders are vying for a season split after Lehigh won 86-68 in Hamilton back on Dec. 31.
• The Mountain Hawks enter at 17-10 overall and 9-8 in the Patriot League, having dropped three games in a row and five of their last seven. Lehigh lost 69-61 at Bucknell on Wednesday.

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