ColgateK1126Carole Harris tallied 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds for Colgate against Lafayette Wednesday night in Patriot League action. (Photo by Bob Cornell)

Harris Leads Colgate with 21, but Four in Double Figures Not Enough as Lafayette Prevails, 90-75

 By John Painter

(Hamilton, NY – Jan. 29, 2014)  Four players in double figures has been a recipe for Colgate victory this season, but that streak ended here Wednesday when Lafayette escaped with a 90-75 victory at Cotterell Court.

The Leopards matched Colgate’s four in twin figures, led by Emily Homan’s game-high 26 points and Linnel Macklin’s 25. Carole Harris paced the Raiders’ quartet with 21 for her third game this season in the 20s and her 11th in double figures – both team highs.

“Carole’s having a great year for us,” Colgate head coach Nicci Hays Fort said. “She battles and she’s not going to back down; none of our post players backed down tonight. Carole looked to be really aggressive and took advantage of her offensive opportunities.”

Harris finished 9-of-18 from the field and added seven boards to likely maintain her top-three status among Patriot League rebounding leaders. The junior is averaging nearly 12½ points – good enough for top-15 in the league – and right at 7½ rebounds.

Lauryn Kobiela added 16 points for the Raiders, her best scoring night since she poured in 23 in a Dec. 4 win over Drexel. Kobiela, the team’s scoring leader through most of the season’s first half, was overdue to return to the points column in a big way.

“I started shooting and they were going in, so I kept doing it and it felt good,” Kobiela said. “They haven’t been going in, so I’ve been looking for my teammates.”

Staying Positive

Kobiela entered in an 0-of-17 rut from the field, but she hasn’t let that affect her court duties as team captain. She said the Raiders have a lot of basketball to be played with the second turn through conference play beginning Saturday at Bucknell.

“You’ve just got to be positive,” Kobiela said. “We can’t be down on ourselves because that doesn’t help any situation. We know we have things to work on, so we have to work in a positive note and help each other out.”

The senior guard added three more assists Wednesday and now has 318 for her career. Kobiela stands sixth on the Colgate career chart in that category, just 23 away from a top-five placement.

The Raiders began both halves playing their best basketball. Harris had 10 points by the 11-minute mark of the opening period and Colgate led 20-10. But Lafayette began pounding it inside and taking advantage of their height advantage.

The Leopards penciled Homan at 6-foot-3 and Danielle Fiacco at 6-7 among their starting five. Homan, who was just awarded Patriot League Player of the Week honors, began her push for a second straight certificate by scoring 10 points over those last 11 minutes of the first half to reach 14 points by the break.

Lafayette led 37-35 at intermission.

Another Good Start

Colgate moved back in front after halftime, grabbing three-point leads on a couple of occasions when Mariah Jones connected on a layup and then a 3-pointer that made it 46-43 with 16:26 remaining.

But that was as good as it got for the Raiders. Homan made consecutive baskets and then reserve forward Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby – another lanky Leopard at 6-3 – scored six of her eight points over a three-minute stretch to push Lafayette in front 55-50 with 12:12 to play.

All of which was setting the stage for Macklin, who found room to hit three more of her career-high seven 3-pointers this night. Macklin blew past her previous scoring high of 16, and the seven threes were the most by a player either for Lafayette or against Colgate this season.

Macklin’s previous high game beyond the arc was four made threes on three occasions.

“They dominated us inside,” Kobiela said. “They have really good post players. Our game was to try and stop them, but when we did the guard started making threes. It was tough; they played well.”

Lafayette shot 47 percent from the field on 32-of-68, including an 8-of-21 effort from downtown. The Leopards made 18-of-24 free throws and outrebounded Colgate 46-39. Lafayette also posted 23 assists on its 32 made baskets, against just 10 turnovers.

In addition to Homan and Macklin, Madeline Fahan scored 11 and Fiacco 10. Homan added a career-high 16 rebounds to her resume.

The Raiders shot just under 43 percent, making 29-of-68. Colgate was 6-of-15 from arc, including a perfect 3-of-3 by Missy Repoli. The junior guard actually swished five from downtown but was called for an extra step on two of those treys. Colgate converted 11-of-19 free throws and finished with 14 assists against 11 turnovers in a well-played game.

Reid with Eight Boards

Joining Harris and Kobiela in the scoring column were Josie Stockill with 12 and Jones with 11, Repoli 9, Paige Kriftcher 3, Kelly Reid 2 and Randyll Butler 1. Reid was the top rebounder with eight, and Jones paced with four assists and four steals.

“We got better tonight,” Hays Fort said. “That’s something you don’t see on the stat sheet. If you haven’t seen us play this year, you might not understand that we did get better.

“We did some really great things on offense and had some really great possessions. We tried some different things on defense and got some stops. We just missed a few rebounds, a couple of shots don’t bounce our way – but we’re getting better.”

Hays Fort pointed to rebounds as the difference in this one.

“Lafayette’s done a great job of attacking the offensive glass. We knew that; we knew it was going to be a big-time defensive rebounding game for us. And yet there was a stretch in the second half where it felt like they got every rebound.

“They got every one and they capitalized on them. They kicked it out to Macklin and she made a three, or they extended the possession where they would just get a good shot out of it.”

The Raiders fall to 5-15 overall and 1-8 in the Patriot League. Lafayette improved to 10-10 with its second straight win and 4-5 in conference.

Colgate is at Bucknell this Saturday for a 7 p.m. tip. The Bison wonWednesday at home against Lehigh to improve to 11-8 and 6-3.

“We have to continue to focus on getting better every day,” Hays Fort said. “That’s how we have to take our program to the next level; we have to get better every day, and we just have to continue to focus – Saturday, next Wednesday, the next Saturday after that – each and every day, each and every game, just continuing to get better.”

Lafayette 90, Colgate 75

Lafayette (10-10, 4-5): Maddie Peabody 4, Linnel Macklin 25, Emily Homan 26, Madeline Fahan 11, Danielle Fiacco 10, Jamie O’Hare 6, Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby 8. Totals: 32-18-90.

Colgate (5-15, 1-8): Lauryn Kobiela 16, Mariah Jones 11, Kelly Reid 2, Carole Harris 21, Randyll Butler 1, Paige Kriftcher 3, Missy Repoli 9, Josie Stockill 12. Totals: 29-11-75.

3-Point Field Goals: Lafayette 8 (Macklin 7); Colgate 6 (Repoli 3, Kobiela, Jones, Kriftcher).

Halftime: Lafayette 37-35.

By martha

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