The AU women’s basketball took care of business at Colgate Feb. 8, beating the Raiders 75-57. The game was knotted at 36 at halftime, but AU used a huge second half outscoring Colgate 39-21 to secure the victory.
Late in the first half it looked like the Eagles would be down after Colgate’s Josie Stockill hit two free throws to put the Raiders up by three with under a minute remaining. AU responded when senior guard Ti’asa McGeorge hit a three pointer with 48 seconds remaining to tie the game
The Eagles trailed by one point with about 16 minutes in the second half but went on an 11-1 run to break the game open and go up 54-45. The Eagles went on another 13-2 run later in the second half to go up by 15 points with a little over four minutes remaining in the game.
“I think offensively we started out the game pretty well, especially with some young kids out there being able to score a little bit in transition as well as in the half court,” head coach Meggan Gebbia told AUEagles.com. “I thought we were very patient with getting shots.”
Colgate made one last push and cut American’s lead to 10, but American halted the Raider’s run scoring the final eight points of the contest.
The Eagles (16-7 9-3 PL) were highly efficient on offense shooting fifty percent from the floor and were a perfect 20-of-20 from the foul line. The team was also strong on defense as they held Colgate to a mere 38 percent shooting while also forcing 14 Raider turnovers.
The Eagles were lead by junior forward Arron Zimmerman who scored 19 points and also had two steals. Junior guard Jen Dumiak was also a solid contributor adding 16 points to go along with five assists. Senior Alexis Dobbs also scored in double digits with ten points including going eight for eight from the foul line.
“Having Alexis on the floor just kind of sparked our transition game in the second half and once we led by around four it felt like we could settle down and just move forward with the game,” said Gebbia.
The Raiders (5-18 1-11 Pl) were led by junior forward Carole Harris who had 16 points, five rebounds and three steals.
With a win on Saturday and a loss by Navy, the Eagles are now trail Navy by just one game for first place in the Patriot League.
AU will be in action next Jan. 12 when they take on Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pa .
