WASHINGTON – Colgate's getting closer, but the Raiders are not quite there yet.
American rode a big first half from Kaitlyn Marenyi and a strong fourth quarter from Jade Edwards to hold off a furious Colgate rally in a 63-61 Patriot League decision here Thursday night.
The opener for both teams was just as advertised, with six ties and 10 lead changes. But American did just enough to earn its 27th consecutive victory over Colgate, dating to the 2006-07 season.
American (5-6, 1-0 Patriot) scored the game's first seven points before Colgate made a stand and trailed just 15-14 after 10 minutes.
Rachel Thompson then got going and Colgate built its largest lead of the game at 19-15. The Raiders led 24-23 when Thompson went to the bench with her second foul and still 5:35 remaining in the half.
That's when American put together a 20-6 run to close the period and go into the locker room leading 43-30. The Eagles shot better than 55 percent from the field in the first half, including 6-of-10 from 3-point distance.
Marenyi was responsible for five of those bombs on just seven attempts as she had 15 points by intermission
But Colgate (8-4, 0-1) proved its pre-Patriot League success was no fluke with a complete turnaround in the third quarter. The Raiders made six of their first seven shots and outscored American 21-6 in the period to grab a 51-49 lead.
In the fourth, despite not scoring for the first three-plus minutes, Langan's basket at 6:55 made it 53-52 Raiders. AU's Edwards knocked down her only 3-pointer of the game before Langan answered with a jumper that tied it 55-55.
Tegan Graham pulled up for a jumper and then made one of two free throw attempts for a 58-58 tie with 42.5 seconds left. Edwards answered with a jumper to push the Eagles back in front 60-58 with 25.7 seconds remaining.
Colgate's
Ava Williams had a baseline jumper rim out and Thompson couldn't connect on the put-back with 10.2 seconds showing. American's Sanders sank two free throws with 6.9 to play for a 62-58 American lead.
Graham swished a corner trey with 2.9 seconds remaining before Edwards made one free throw for the final margin.
Edwards tallied 10 of American's 14 points in the fourth quarter and led all scorers with 20. Thompson scored 19 on 8-of-16 shooting and added eight rebounds.
Bottom Line
• American 63, Colgate 61
From the Sources
•
Head Coach Bill Cleary (On the game) "Obviously, we're very proud of our fight to get back into the game. One of the things we said at halftime was we would see the character of this team, and without question they responded like we knew they would.
"My disappointment is we allowed it to get to that point. This is a great teaching moment for our players. This loss is going to sting, but we can educate ourselves from the loss and hopefully come to understand fully how important it is to be disciplined and follow the scout."
Listen to the rest of Coach Cleary's comments
HERE.
Stats of the Game
• Thompson with 19 points is up to 970 for her career and within 30 of becoming the 15th Division I Raider to reach 1,000 points.
• Colgate's 10 assists were a season low.
• Colgate's two-point loss was the closest in this 27-game losing streak to American. The next-closest was last year's five-point defeat in Hamilton.
• This was Colgate's second game in the last 25 days, and the Raiders' long-range shooting is suffering. One game after going 1-of-10 from 3-point distance against Wagner back on Dec. 22, Colgate finished 2-of-13 tonight.
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at Bender Arena was 173.
Up Next
• Colgate is back in action Sunday for its Patriot League home opener against Army.
• The Black Knights are 4-8 overall after Thursday night's 63-52 home loss to Bucknell.
• Tipoff is 2 p.m., with the Patriot League Network and 94 WKXZ-FM carrying all the action.
