WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Colgate Raiders seem to bring out the best in this year's Army women's basketball team.
 
The Black Knights made the most of their Senior Day and scored their second-highest point total of the season in an 81-67 victory over Colgate. Their highest came back on Jan. 5 when it took everything the Raiders had to register a record-setting 100-93 victory.
 
The common denominator? A program record 14 3-pointers by the Black Knights. This time, Army's Natalie Stralkus (7-of-10) and Sarah Bohn (6-of-10) accounted for 13 of the 14 treys as the home side led from start to finish.
 
It was 7-0 Army before the Raiders rallied to within 9-8 on Tegan Graham's 3-pointer with 3:47 left in the first quarter. Army then outscored the visitors 14-5 the rest of the period as Bohn knocked down a three and Stralkus hit two more.
 
Army led 27-13 at the first break. Colgate opened just 5-of-18 from the field in the opening 10 minutes.
 
The Black Knights posted leads of 30-13 and 43-26 before settling for a 46-31 advantage at halftime, by which point Army was 16-of-30 from the field and 9-of-18 from downtown.
 
Colgate narrowed it to 60-51 entering the fourth quarter and had a couple of chances early in the final period to draw closer, but Army got the stops and then poured on one final offensive surge. The hosts pushed it back to another 17-point cushion before settling for the final margin.
 
The Raiders remain in a second-place tie with Boston University at 11-6 in the Patriot League. Colgate needs to win Wednesday at home against Lehigh and get help from Army knocking off BU in Boston to claim second-place seeding in the conference tournament.
 
The Raiders dropped to 19-9 overall. Army is 8-20.
 
Bottom Line
• Army 81, Colgate 67
 
From the Source
• Head Coach Bill Cleary: (On the game) "Unfortunately, we dug ourselves too big of a hole in that first quarter and weren't able to rebound. We cut it to nine heading into the fourth quarter, but we just couldn't get the stops when we needed them.
 
"Give Army a lot of credit. They were shorthanded today but they came out on their Senior Day and those players filled the void exceptionally well. We knew they had shooters and we knew we had to defend. Unfortunately, we couldn't get it done.
 
"We have to look ahead now and focus on Lehigh and finishing our home regular season on a positive note."
 
Stats of the Game
• Rachel Thompson scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season.
• Graham scored 13, aided by 2-of-5 from 3-point distance.
• The Raiders had a season-low eight assists, their first game in single digits this season.
 
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at Christl Arena was 831.
 
Up Next
• Colgate plays its final regular season game Wednesday at home against Lehigh.
• The Mountain Hawks are 16-11 overall and 8-8 in the Patriot League heading into Sunday night's home game against Loyola.
• Tipoff from Cotterell Court is 7 p.m., with the Patriot League Network and 94 WKXZ-FM carrying all the action.