HAMILTON – Colgate parlayed another quality third quarter into its first victory of the season, a 67-53 decision over Canisius here Wednesday night.
 
The Raiders led 39-30 at halftime and then outscored the visiting Golden Griffins 18-7 in the third, making it a 57-37 margin with 10 minutes remaining. Colgate stretched that lead to 65-39 before coasting home over the final five minutes.
 
Colgate thus far is outscoring the opposition 68-48 in the third quarter. Wednesday night was the team's fourth game, so that covers a full 40-minute sample size. The Raiders trail in the other three quarters, but those numbers should begin to change if the home opener was any indication.
 
Mylah Chandler was impactful throughout, scoring nine points and leading the Raiders with seven rebounds. She posted a plus-minus of +20.
 
Summer King scored a season-high 15 points and Rachel Thompson and Haley Greer added 11 apiece for the winners.
 
There were two ties and two lead changes in this one, but those were put to bed in the opening three minutes. Colgate pulled in front for good at 9-7 on Thompson's bucket in the paint with 6:35 showing.
 
It was still just 14-13 when Colgate scored the quarter's final seven points over the last 1:51. King tallied four in that stretch and then Greer added a 3-pointer to make it 21-13 at the end of the first.
 
Canisius pulled within 23-20 before the Raiders went on a 9-2 run, capped by Mackenzie Carroll's 3-pointer with 4:02 showing that made it 32-22. The Raiders led 39-30 at intermission as King and Carroll had 8 points apiece.
 
The teams were scoreless over the first 2:15 of the second half before King drained a 3-pointer to break the drought. Things held steady until Colgate ended the quarter on a 10-2 run. Greer had six of those points, including a four-point play with 1:22 showing that made it 55-35.
 
Colgate pushed the lead to as much as 26 points midway in the fourth before Canisius closed on a 14-2 run over the final 5:13.
 
Bottom Line
• Colgate 67, Canisius 53
 
Won-Lost Records
• Colgate improved to 1-3.
• Canisius is now 0-4.
 
Stats of the Game
• This was Colgate's best shooting performance of the season at 41.7 percent.
• The Raiders held Canisius to just 2-of-17 from the floor in the decisive third quarter.
• After shooting below 50 percent from the line in narrow losses at Dayton and George Mason, Colgate was 11-of-12 at the stripe Wednesday night.
• King with three blocked shots climbed to 10th on the Colgate career chart with 65, passing Sarah Cashman (1980-83) with 64.
• The Raiders assisted on 17 of their 25 baskets.
• Despite attempting a season-low 60 shots from the field, Colgate scored a season-high 67 points.
• Colgate for the season is limiting the opposition to 16.7 percent from 3-point range. Canisius was 3-of-23.
• In addition to Chandler's sparkling plus-minus number, Greer was +18, Thompson +17, King +15 and Carroll +10 in her 11½ minutes of game action.
• Thompson has scored in double-figures in three of the first four games.
• The Raiders knocked off Canisius for the second straight, but this was the first win in Hamilton over the Golden Griffins since 2006.
 
From the Source
• Head Coach Bill Cleary (On the game) "The start of the first quarter, the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter we were really good. I didn't like how we closed the game. We have to be stronger; we have to learn how to finish things out.
 
"Overall, really pleased with our effort today. It was nice to be home. We were very unselfish and that gave us a lot of good open looks that we made. We passed up good shots for better shots.
 
"We had a big night from Mylah Chandler. She's starting to get that confidence offensively, which I like seeing. But she's so strong for us defensively for us."

Listen to the rest of Coach Cleary's comments HERE.
 
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at Cotterell Court was 202.
 
Up Next
• Colgate's is home again Sunday against Columbia.
• The Lions are 2-3 after Wednesday's 83-72 home loss to Houston. They defeated Army back on Nov. 12 by a 70-49 count.
• Start time from Cotterell Court is 2 p.m.