Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
14-4,7-0Patriot
Colgate
13-5,5-2Patriot
Strong First Quarter Propels Women's Basketball to 66-43 Win Over Colgate
1/22/2020 8:01:00 PM | Women's Basketball
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Tessa Brugler led three starters in double figures with 14 points and Bucknell women's basketball outscored Colgate 24-6 in a dominant first quarter on its way to a 66-43 victory over the Raiders Wednesday evening at Sojka Pavilion. Ellie Mack added 12 points and Abby Kapp scored 10 for the Bison, who won their seventh straight game by double-digits to start the Patriot League schedule.
Bucknell (14-4, 7-0 PL) led by as many as 25 points and held Colgate (13-5, 5-2 PL) to 25.4 percent shooting. The Bison shot 46.2 percent in the contest.
Bucknell dominated inside, outscoring Colgate 38-18 in the paint. The 43 points marked a season low for the Raiders, who had won their last five games and entered the contest leading the Patriot League in scoring offense.
Mack grabbed a team-high nine rebounds as the Bison outrebounded Colgate 39-31. Brugler had seven rebounds, including three offensive boards.
Rachel Thompson, the league's leading scorer, led the Raiders with 10 points and 11 rebounds. She entered the game averaging nearly 18 points per game.
The Bison took advantage of a 1-for-7 start by Colgate and went on an 11-0 scoring run to grab the early lead. By the time the first quarter was over Colgate had shot 20 percent (3-of-15), their poorest percentage of the contest. Bucknell shot a season-best 71.4 (10-of-14) in the first.
The second quarter was where Bucknell found its biggest struggles, despite grabbing a 20-point lead with nine minutes still to play in the half. The team shot just 21.4 percent and was outscored 11-7, yet carried a 31-17 lead into the locker rooms. Bucknell committed just two fouls in the first 20 minutes of action.
The Bison scored 19 points in the third quarter with 41.7 percent shooting and once again held the Raiders under 30 percent. Bucknell also scored eight points from the foul line in the third. The quarter began with an 8-0 Bison run that included an Ally Johnson triple and a jumper in the paint by Taylor O'Brien that she converted into a 3-point play after drawing the foul. The run put Bucknell up by 22 with 6:54 left in the quarter.
3rd | Taylor O'Brien gets the bucket and the foul! Bison are on an 8-0 run and lead 41-19 with 6:52 left in the quarter. Colgate is 1-for-5 to begin the second half. pic.twitter.com/c7u77Lw7Vu
— Bucknell WBB (@Bucknell_WBB) January 23, 2020
The Raiders got no closer than 17 in the final 10 minutes, but had their best quarter shooting with 31.3 percent and a pair of successful trips to the free throw line. Mack and Brugler had a strong final quarter for Bucknell, combining for 10 points as the Bison shot 50 percent and sank 4-of-5 free throws. All Bison recorded minutes in the fourth quarter.
"Obviously thrilled with the win. I thought we did a lot of things well," said head coach Trevor Woodruff. "We were able to hold the highest scoring team in the league to close to 30 below their average and the league's leading scorer to half of hers. That was obviously something that we wanted to try to do."
O'Brien finished the game with nine points and a pair of assists. Johnson ended up with seven points and three assists. Carly Krsul led the freshmen with six points and six boards.
"We'll take the win and we'll enjoy it tonight, and we'll come back and get ready for Loyola tomorrow," said Woodruff.
Up next, the Bison make the trip to Baltimore, Md. to face the Loyola (Md.) Greyhounds. That game tips off at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 25 and will be broadcast on the Patriot League Network.
