Women's Basketball Travels to Hamilton, N.Y. to Face Colgate Raiders on Wednesday

LEWISBURG, Pa. – The women's basketball team hits the road to take on the Colgate Raiders in Hamilton, N.Y. for the first time in nearly two years. The Bison are looking to keep their three-game winning streak going, while Colgate seeks its first conference win of the season.

The last time Bucknell visited Hamilton, it clinched the 2019-20 Patriot League regular season title in a battle between two of the top teams in the league that season. The Raiders have taken on a new look this time around with first-year head coach Ganiyat Adeduntan. What remains the same for the Raiders is the strong play of junior Alexa Brodie, who was named to the Patriot League All-Rookie Team shortly after the last time Bucknell saw her.

Colgate, while struggling to a 2-15 record, has been close in its last few games. The Raiders have lost their last three by five or fewer points, and rookie Taylor Golembiewski is coming off a 21-point performance against Holy Cross.

Bucknell, on the other hand, has played some of its strongest defense of the season over the last two weeks. The Bison have held four straight opponents to under 60 points, and they've given up just one double-digit quarter in the first half during that stretch.

Patriot League Rookie of the Week Cecelia Collins, who has now earned that title three times, is in mid-season form following a near triple-double against American last time out. On top of that, senior Taylor O'Brien enters Wednesday's contest having scored in double figures in 23 straight games, while junior teammate Carly Krsul (11.4 ppg) has shot better than 50 percent in three straight.

• Game Notes
• Digital Program
• 2021-22 Media Guide

What: Bucknell (12-4, 3-2 PL) at Colgate (2-15, 0-6 PL)
When: Wednesday, Jan. 19 at 6 p.m.
Where: Cotterell Court – Hamilton, N.Y.
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 90.5 WVBU
Live Statistics: ColgateAthletics.com

Last Game's Starters
Sr./G: Marly Walls (7.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 3.3 apg)
Sr./G: Taylor O'Brien (17.4 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 2.0 spg)
Jr./G: Tai Johnson (2.9 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 0.9 apg)
Fr./G: Cecelia Collins (11.7 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 2.5 apg)
Jr./F: Emma Shaffer (4.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.4 apg)

With a win over Colgate, Bucknell would...
• ... improve to 13-4 overall this season, winning a fourth straight game.
• ... maintain the best overall record in the Patriot League this season.
• ... move to 46-11 overall under Woodruff.
• ... improve to 52-22 all-time against the Raiders.
• ... collect an 11th straight win against the Raiders.
• ... improve to 28-4 in Patriot League play under Woodruff.
• ... move to 268-180 all-time in Patriot League play.

Headlines
• Bucknell visits Hamilton, N.Y. on Wednesday to face the Raiders for the first time since clinching the Patriot League regular season title there in 2019-20. Bucknell is seeking its fourth straight win overall and its 11th in a row in the series with the Raiders.
• Bucknell made a leap in the standings on Sunday with a win over American and now sits fourth, trailing Lafayette (7-7, 3-1 PL), Holy Cross (10-6, 4-1 PL) and Boston U. (9-7, 5-0 PL). The Bison still have the best overall record in league at 12-4 on the season and have yet to play the three teams sitting ahead of them.
• Bucknell has played some of its best defense of the season in recent weeks, holding its last three opponents to an average of 46.3 points per game. On top of that, Bucknell has forced 15 or more turnovers in each of its last three. The 20 American turnovers on Sunday were the most the Bison have forced in a game since the 2019-20 season. Bucknell currently ranks 25th in the nation in scoring defense (55.3 ppg).
• Bucknell ranks first in the Patriot League in field goal percentage (42.5%), first in 3-point field goal percentage (35%), first in turnover margin (+3.0) and third in scoring offense (62.7 ppg).
• Bucknell freshman Cecelia Collins was named Patriot League Rookie of the Week on Monday for a third time this season. She's the first Bucknell player to receive the award multiple times in a season since 2015-16. She currently leads the league in scoring among rookies.
• Collins was nearing triple-double territory on Sunday, totaling 14 points, nine assists and seven rebounds vs. American. Collins has scored in double figures 11 times this season and has totaled 20 assists over the last three games.
• Senior Taylor O'Brien posted her 23rd consecutive game scoring in double figures on Sunday, and she remains second in the Patriot League in points per game (17.4). O'Brien also ranks second in field goal percentage (46%), eighth in 3-pointers per game (1.4) and second in steals per game (2.0).
• Junior Carly Krsul scored in double figures for a fourth consecutive game and for a 13th time this season last time out. The Plymouth, Minn. native has also been above 50 percent shooting in three straight games. Krsul is third in the Patriot League in blocks per game (1.8) as well.
• Sophomore Julie Kulesza scored a career-high eight points in Bucknell's game against American on Sunday, knocking down two 3-pointers in the first half while registering a block and a steal in a career-high 23 minutes of game time.
• The Bison came in at No. 24 in last week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll. Bucknell ranked as high as 15 earlier in the season.
• Bucknell has been dominant against league opponents for some time and has gone 91-12 in PL play since the start of the 2015-16 season. Under head coach Trevor Woodruff, Bucknell is 27-4 against league opponents during the regular season.
• Bucknell went 9-2 in non-conference play, ending that portion of the schedule on an eight-game winning streak. The Bison defeated their last six non-conference opponents by double digits.
• Bucknell has seen some of its most successful seasons in program history over recent years, including five first-place regular season finishes and two Patriot League Championship titles in the last seven seasons. Bucknell has finished atop the conference in the regular season in each of the last three, going 63-14 overall during that stretch.
• Woodruff is in his third season with the team, and he was named the Patriot League Coach of the Year in each of his first two. Bucknell has gone 45-11 overall under his direction.

Scouting Colgate/Series History
• Colgate has struggled to just two wins on the season and an 0-6 start to Patriot League play, but it has lost its last three games by an average of 3.7 points. The Raiders' last victory was over UMBC back on Nov. 13.
• Most recently, the Raiders suffered a 62-57 loss at Holy Cross on Jan. 15. Before that, they fell 65-62 at home against Navy and 66-63 at Army.
• Colgate is averaging the fewest points in the league (53.2 ppg) and is giving up the second-most (64.8 ppg).
• Colgate has relied on rookie Taylor Golembiewski and junior Alexa Brodie so far this season. Brodie, a 2019-20 member of the Patriot League All-Rookie team, is averaging 8.5 points and 2.6 assists per contest. Golembiewski leads the current available players with 9.9 points per game.
• The Raiders are under the direction of first-year head coach Ganiyat Adeduntan, who spent the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons leading Division III Wheelock to an 8-43 overall record. She most recently served as an assistant at George Washington.
• Bucknell holds a 51-22 lead over Colgate in the all-time series – its largest over any Patriot League team. The Bison have won 10 in a row in the series with their last loss being in 2015. Bucknell is also 20-13 when playing at Colgate.
• The Raiders are just two years removed from one of their best seasons in program history when they went 19-11 overall and 11-7 in Patriot League play.
• The last meeting between Bucknell and Colgate was Feb. 26, 2020 when the Bison collected a 76-65 victory in Hamilton, N.Y. to seal the regular season title. Then-sophomore Taylor O'Brien posted 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting with a team-high eight rebounds and four assists. The game saw 15 lead changes, including four in the final quarter.

Series Record: 51-22
Record at Home: 29-4
Record at Colgate: 20-13
Neutral Site Record: 2-5
Trevor Woodruff Record: 2-0
Current Streak: 10 wins
Longest Winning Streak: 10
Longest Losing Streak: 4

Last Time Out
• The Bucknell women's basketball team won its third straight conference game, defeating American, 62-52, on a snowy Sunday afternoon at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison (12-4, 3-2 PL) had six different players score at least seven points on their way to the 10-point win over the Eagles (9-5, 2-2 PL). Cecelia Collins scored a team-high 14 points to go along with career-highs in assists (9), rebounds (7) and steals (3).
• The Orange & Blue led by as many as 19 points in the first half, with a 23-4 run breaking a 9-9 tie and giving the squad a 32-13 lead in the second quarter. Bucknell carried a 17-point lead into halftime, assisting on all 12 of its made field goals in the first half.
• American used a 15-2 run to pull within five of tying with 5:04 left to play in the game. The Eagles shot 53 percent (8-of-15), forced six Bison turnovers and made their only 3-pointer of the afternoon to outscore Bucknell 23-15 over the final 10 minutes, but the Bison managed to hold on and collect their seventh consecutive win over American.

New Notable Career Highs
• Cecelia Collins - 9 assists, 7 rebounds, 3 steals vs. American
• Julie Kulesza - 8 points vs. American
• Emma Shaffer - 23 minutes played vs. American

Dominant Defense
• Since head coach Trevor Woodruff's arrival in 2019-20, the Bison have had one of the best scoring defenses in the country. Bucknell allowed just 53.6 points per game during Woodruff's first season, which ranked eighth in NCAA Division I. Last season the Bison allowed 55.5 per game and finished 17th in the country.
• Bucknell currently ranks 25th in the country and second in the Patriot League with 55.2 points allowed per game. The Bison have held 11 of their 16 opponents to under 60 points this season, and five have been held to under 50.
• Bucknell has held teams to 12 or fewer first-half points three times since the start of the 2019-20 season. Additionally, the Bison have held teams to single digits in 49 quarters during that stretch (excludes overtime periods).

Double-Digit Victories
• 37 of Bucknell's last 45 wins have been by double digits. Since the start of the 2018-19 season, 59 of the team's 70 wins have been by a double-digit margin.
• Bucknell's largest margin of victory was 47 vs. Coppin State in 1985.
• The Bison have 10 double-digit victories this season, including a 37-point win over Saint Francis.

Consistent Patriot League Success
• Bucknell is 91-12 in Patriot League play since the start of the 2015-16 season. The run includes two Patriot League Tournament titles and five first-place finishes in the regular season. Bucknell also has the best overall record in the league during that span at 147-41.

Up Next
The Bison return to Sojka Pavilion to host Holy Cross for a 2 p.m. tip-off on Saturday, Dec. 22. The game will be broadcast on both ESPN+ and SECV8.

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Women's Basketball Travels to Hamilton, N.Y. to Face Colgate Raiders on Wednesday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Cecelia Collins

Tai Johnson

Carly Krsul

Julie Kulesza

Taylor O'Brien

Emma Shaffer

Marly Walls

Women's Basketball Travels to Hamilton, N.Y. to Face Colgate Raiders on Wednesday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Cecelia Collins

Tai Johnson

Carly Krsul

Julie Kulesza

Taylor O'Brien

Emma Shaffer

Marly Walls

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