Ajan Caneda ’15
Staff Writer
The women’s basketball team snapped a 13-game losing streak with a 67-45 rout of Colgate at home on Wednesday night.
The Bison held the Raiders to 27 percent shooting while the Orange and Blue went 42 percent from the field. The Bison led by as much as 22 in the first half before taking a 41-24 lead into halftime. They never slowed the momentum as they picked up their first win since Dec. 6 and their first Patriot League win of the season.
“I was really proud of the effort that our team put out for the entire 40 minutes,” interim head coach Bill Broderick said. “I definitely thought we took another big step in the right direction in reaching our goal of playing our best basketball of the season come Patriot League Tournament time.”
The Bison outscored Colgate 40-16 in points in the paint, 20-1 in points off turnovers, and 22-6 in bench points. The Orange and Blue also had a 58-33 edge in rebounds.
Rachel Voss ’13 was the leading scorer with 16 points while Alyssa Dunn ’13 and Shelby Romine ’14 also scored in double figures. Lindsay Horbatuck ’13 had a near double-double with nine points and 16 rebounds.
The Bison narrowly pulled off their first Patriot League win a game earlier but ended up losing 60-56 at Army on Saturday. It was a close contest from the beginning, as both teams tried to gain the upper hand in the first half. Guard Christina Chukwuedo ’12 nailed a jumper that gave the Orange and Blue their first lead of the game with 6:58 remaining in the first half. The Bison outscored Army 16-8 in points in the paint in the first half but Army scored 16 points off turnovers. The Black Knights carried a 30-27 lead at halftime.
“Going into the Army game we were really fired up after losing by one point to Navy the week before,” Horbatuck said. “Every game we are figuring out our identity more and more. We are realizing what it’s going to take to get to the next level.”
Both teams continued their consistent shooting in the second half. At the 9:07 remaining mark, Voss made a pair of free throws that gave the Orange and Blue a 46-45 lead. Neither team could pull ahead, as the leads stayed in single digits the entire game. The game was knotted at 52-52 with 3:44 left before Army went on an 8-0 run that sealed the victory.
Horbatuck finished with 15 points and seven rebounds. Dunn and Voss were also in double figures with 14 and 10 points, respectively.
“During the last few minutes of the game, we couldn’t seem to get the definitive defensive stops that we needed,” Dunn said. “That coupled with our less-than-ideal execution on the offensive side of the ball left us on the losing end of a hard-fought battle.”
The Bison will look to ride the momentum from their win in their game at Lafayette on Saturday.