Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Colgate
Bucknell Women's Basketball Defeats Colgate 88-57
2/23/2008 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 23, 2008
HAMILTON, N.Y. - Hope Foster made 8 of 12 field goals and equaled her career high with 24 points and a smothering Bucknell defense tallied 11 steals as the Bucknell women's basketball team easily defeated Colgate 88-57 Saturday afternoon at Cotterell Court. The 88 points for the Bison were one shy of a season high as four starters recorded double figures.
Bucknell led wire-to-wire as it made its first five field goals and was 6-for-7 in the first four minutes of play to open up a 13-4 advantage before the first media timeout. Foster and Joyce Novacek, who scored 11 of her career-high 13 points in the first half, combined for nine of those points as the Bison established an early inside presence.
Colgate narrowed the Bucknell lead to 19-15 thanks to 3-pointers from Laura Grimm and Katie Garman 90 seconds apart, but the Bison limited the Raiders to one field goal over the next nearly 11 minutes of play. During that span Bucknell went on a 22-5 run with Foster tallying seven of her 15 first-half points and Novacek five during the spurt.
The Raiders converted a pair of layups in the final minute of the first half to cut Bucknell's halftime lead to 43-24. It marked the second consecutive game the Bison netted at least 40 points in the first half and it was the second-most first-half points for Bucknell this season.
In the second half, the Bison led by as many as 36 points (85-49), their largest advantage of the season. Bucknell head coach Kathy Fedorjaka substituted liberally in the second half as the bench played 46 minutes after halftime, and 68 total in the game.
For the second consecutive game Bucknell easily won the rebound battle, outrebounding Colgate 44-26. Foster grabbed nine and Cosima Higham added eight off the bench in just 12 minutes of play. She now has 20 rebounds in just 27 minutes the last two games. Both Higham and Novacek hauled in five offensive rebounds as the Bison had a season-high 20 as a team.
Bucknell shot a season-high 49.2 percent (31 of 63) from the floor despite missing its final six field goal attempts. Foster and Novacek combined to go 13 of 18 from the floor. The Bison were also a solid 24 of 32 from the free throw line with Foster going 8 of 9 and Kesha Champion 5 of 6.
Nine different Bison tallied at least one steal in the contest with Champion and Amanda Brown each recording two.
Champion had a solid all-around game with 15 points, four rebounds and five assists. Lauren Schober added 13 points, five rebound and five assists. Foster's 24 points equaled her career high, which she set against High Point as a sophomore. She moved into 12th place on Bucknell's career scoring list with 1,212 points.
The Bison's 31-point victory was their largest since defeating Colgate by 32 Feb. 17, 2007. They have now defeated the Raiders by nearly 25 points per game over the last six regular-season meetings.
Georgia Gier led the Raiders with 11 points, while Krista Moser added 10, all in the second half.
Bucknell won its second straight game to improve to 12-14 overall this year and 7-5 in the Patriot League. Fourth-place Army defeated Navy in overtime on Saturday, meaning the Bison will remain in fifth place in the league standings. Colgate fell to 1-26 and 0-12 in the Patriot League with the loss.
The Bison will return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 27, when they begin a season-ending two-game homestand against Lehigh. Tip off is slated for 7 p.m. at Sojka Pavilion.
