LEWISBURG, Pa. – Round I goes to the Bucknell Bison.
Wednesday's clash between the early season Patriot League leaders in offense (Colgate) and defense (Bucknell) went the Bison's way in a 66-43 result.
Colgate walked out of Sojka Pavilion toting season-lows in points, field goal percentage (25.4), assists (10, tied) and steals (4). The previous scoring low for the Raiders this season came in a 72-44 loss at Northwestern, which is 16-2 and tied for the Big Ten Conference lead.
Bucknell showed those same first-place characteristics in continuing its hot start to the Patriot League season. Over the last four games, the Bison own a 51-40 win at Holy Cross, a 68-43 home thumping of American, at 71-50 triumph at Lehigh and Wednesday night's 23-point decision.
Bucknell is 14-4 overall and 7-0 in the Patriot League, two games clear of the second-place contingent of Colgate, Holy Cross and Lehigh at 5-2.
Colgate scored the game's opening basket with
Ava Williams converting a fast-break layup from
Rachel Thompson. But the Bison tallied the next 11 points as Colgate couldn't get the shots to fall.
The Raiders opened just 3-of-15 from the field and trailed 24-6 at the end of 10 minutes. Bucknell blistered the nets for 10-of-14 to set the tone in that first quarter.
Colgate found its rhythm in the second quarter and outscored the hosts 11-7 for a 31-17 halftime deficit. But back-to-back 3-pointers from Ally Johnson capped a 10-2 run to begin the third quarter and the Bucknell lead expanded to 41-19.
The Raiders closed to within 17 points on a couple of occasions before Bucknell closed it out. The Bison have won the last 16 home meetings against Colgate and nine in a row overall.
Rachel Thompson managed 10 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Raiders, while
Abby Schubiger had 9 and 5. Bucknell's Tessa Brugler led all scorers with 14.
Bottom Line
• Bucknell 66, Colgate 43
From the Source
•
Head Coach Bill Cleary (On the game) "We got good looks but we missed a couple of shots early and that affected us and made us play undisciplined basketball. I take full responsibility for what happened today.
"That's what first-place teams do. That's why Bucknell has been at the top of the league. And if you play undisciplined against them, they are going to exploit that and that's what they did."
(On Bucknell's recent form) "They haven't missed a beat with the new coaching staff and that's a very talented ball club over there. Coach (Trevor) Woodruff and his staff have done a great job and you've got to tip your cap when the other team is just better, and they were just better than us tonight."
(On Saturday against American) "You've got to be ready for every game because every game is going to be a dog fight, which is great. That shows you the parity in the league. We can learn from this and we will become better from this. Hopefully, we can look back on this night and say we learned and we grew and understood what it takes to beat a championship-caliber team."
Stats of the Game
• Thompson's 10 points moved her past Josie Stockill (2013-16) into 10th place on the Colgate career scoring list with 1,090 points
.
• She's already sixth all-time in assists, 10th in steals
and 12th in rebounds.
• Thompson's double-double was her sixth this season and 15th of her career.
• Colgate despite the loss stayed in a second-place tie with Holy Cross and Lehigh.
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at Sojka Pavilion was 813.
Up Next
• Colgate is home Saturday to take on American.
• The Eagles are 7-10 overall and 3-4 in the Patriot League after Wednesday afternoon's 63-44 home win over Loyola. American knocked off Colgate 63-61 in Washington back on Jan. 2.
• Tipoff from Cotterell Court is 2 p.m., with the Patriot League Network and WKXZ-FM carrying all the action.
