Four Players Score Double Digits as UAlbany WBB Powers Through 67-48 Victory at Colgate
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HAMILTON, N.Y. – With four Great Danes scoring 11+ points, the UAlbany women's basketball team got back in the win column with a 67-48 victory at Colgate on Saturday night.
With the score tied 22-22 at 2:30 left in the first half, UAlbany (4-2) used runs of 12-0 and 15-0 against Colgate (0-7) to earn the victory. The Great Danes shot 51.1% in the game, shooting at least 50% in each half, and went 83.3% from the free throw line.
“It was great to have balanced scoring and put a together complete game today,” said UAlbany coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson. “Our press was working late and our quick lineup led to the late charge in the game. Everyone contributed to this victory today.”
Shereesha Richards earned her second double-double of the season, finishing with 14 points, 13 rebounds and three steals.
“We followed through with the gameplan, attacking when we needed to and doing a good job on defense to force up shots,” said Richards.
Imani Tate scored 13 points off the bench, including contributing five points on the first 10-0 run. Tiana-Jo Carter, off 4-5 shooting plus four steals, and Erin Coughlin, hitting a trio of three-pointers and two free throws, each had 11 points.
“We were being aggressive towards the end of the first half and did a lot on the press,” said Tate. “We made sure they had to guard everybody in the game.”
In the backcourt, Margarita Rosario finished with a team-high six assists, adding seven points. Sarah Royals moved into 5th in UAlbany history in assists, dishing out four today, adding five points.
For Colgate, Josie Stockill had 13 points, going 5-for-5 from the free throw line. Ariel Etheridge went 3-for-5 from three to get nine points.
Both teams utilized the 2-3 zone early. UAlbany scored on its opening possession as Carter hit a layup. Colgate went the other way and netted a three. Both offenses went cold for a couple of minutes.
UAlbany got into gear after four minutes were gone, hitting baskets in its next three possessions. Tate hit a pair of them, including one off the inbounds pass from Royals, to take an 8-5 lead. Colgate countered with a 7-0 run in the next four minutes to go up 12-8, 10:20 remaining in the 1st.
Rosario hit an elbow three to stop Colgate's streak, and following a Colgate layup, Cassandra Edwards and Royals hit layups to push UAlbany back in front 15-14 with 7:31 left in the 1st.
The teams kept exchanging the lead as Colgate primarily looked for threes and UAlbany mainly went for the paint. The lead was traded four times, then a Kateri Stone three for Colgate tied the game at 22-22 with 2:39 left.
UAlbany attacked the paint in the final minutes of the period, including finding room down the baseline. Aided by Tate hitting a layup and one when hit in the head, then a buzzer beating layup off an inbounds pass from Rosario, UAlbany finished the half on an 8-0 run. The Great Danes went into the locker room leading 30-22.
UAlbany picked up the action in the second half, with Carter hitting a pair of layups to push the run to 12-0 and the team's lead to 34-22. Colgate answers with a couple of deep threes, leading UAlbany to call timeout. Rosario drew the foul on the next possession and hit both free throws, then Royals drove baseline and knocked down the layup to replenish the lead. Tate added a long jumper to make it 40-28 UAlbany with 15:24 left in the 2nd.
At 40-32, UAlbany scored the next seven points in a span of 74 seconds, capped by a Coughlin kick out three. Later, the UAlbany zone defense kept holding off Colgate on the offensive end. The team added a Coughlin corner three, a Richards layup and one plus another Richards jumper to cap the run at 15-0 over almost five minutes. UAlbany led 55-32 with 9:45 left in the 2nd half.
Colgate went back to firing from the perimeter, hitting another couple of threes. Carole Harris added a layup to make it seven-straight points to pull Colgate to 55-40 UAlbany with 6:41 remaining.
After Richards hit a turnaround jumper to stop the Colgate run, each side struggled on offense in the coming minutes. UAlbany did not relinquish the double digit lead the rest of the way and took the victory 67-48.
Game two of the six-game road trip will be on Wednesday, December 10th when UAlbany takes on Marist at 7 p.m. in Poughkeepsie.
