Bucknell's Season Ends With 61-57 Loss to Top-Seeded Colgate
March 7, 2004
UPPER MARLBORO, Md. - For the second-straight year, the Bucknell women's basketball team came ever-so-close to upsetting the top-seed in the Patriot League Tournament, this season falling 61-57 to #1 Colgate in the semifinal round on Sunday, March 7, 2004. Senior Desire Almind set a tournament semifinal game record with 20 rebounds in the contest. The Bison failed to take advantage of a sluggish Colgate start as the Raiders missed their first eight shots of the game, but BU only held a 5-2 lead. Colgate got right back in it, and a back and forth half was under way. The opening 20 minutes featured four ties and four lead changes, with the largest lead coming at 14-10 in Bucknell's favor after a Brooke Tomovich layup with 11:45 to play. The Raiders overcame the deficit, scoring seven unanswered to take a 17-14 edge. A three-point play by freshman Lindsey Hollobaugh tied the contest at 17-17, and the two teams exchanged buckets over the next four minutes before a Megan Curtin three-pointer gave Colgate a 24-21 lead. The Orange and Blue proceeded to put together a 6-0 run, and outscored Colgate 8-2 over the final 3:39 of the half to enter the locker room with a 29-26 lead. Hollobaugh scored 17 points in the opening frame on 6-of-10 shooting, including the final four of the half for BU. The Raiders shot just 26.8% from the field in the first half, to Bucknell's 38.7%, but turned the ball over just four times to BU's 10 to keep themselves in the hunt. The Bison pushed their lead to five early in the second half when Tomovich answered a Malissa Burke three-pointer with one of her own to make it 36-31. The lead changed hands again behind a 15-4 Colgate surge, with six each coming from Burke and Emily Braseth, to give the Raiders their largest lead of the contest at 45-40 with 13:04 to play. An 11-1 run by the Orange and Blue that included six points from junior Lillian Drumgold swung the momentum again, and Bucknell took over 51-46 with 7:40 left. The two squads would exchange baskets over the next two minutes with Almind's jumper at the 5:30 mark giving BU a 57-52 lead. That would be the last time the Bison would score however, allowing Colgate to score seven-straight over the next 1:29 to take a 59-57 lead. Bucknell had several opportunities to tie or take the lead as the Raiders went cold from the field as well, but BU missed its last eight shots of the game. The Orange and Blue were forced to foul and Megan Ballard calmly sank two free throws with 3.6 seconds left on the clock to ice the game. Colgate rebounded from the poor first-half shooting to connect on 39.4% of its second-half attempts. The Raiders led Bucknell 32-14 in the paint, several of those coming off of putbacks by Milaina Lagzdins. Lagzdins ended the game with 15 points and 18 rebounds, 10 of those on the offensive glass. Hollobaugh was limited to just two shots in the second half, finishing the game with her sixth-straight 20-point game. Almind registered her 19th double-double of the season with 10 points to go along with her career-high tying 20 caroms. Her rebound total set a semifinal game record, and her 36 rebounds combined in the first two rounds better her own two-game mark set a year ago (29 - 19 vs. Navy; 10 vs. Holy Cross). Almind concludes an outstanding career with the Bison as the school's third-leading scorer with 1,581 points, and the program's third-leading rebounder with 873 boards. Her 13.4 rebounding average this season establishes a Patriot League single-season record, and will finish among the top in the country. Bucknell concludes its season at 15-13 overall. Colgate moves on to the championship game, hosting the winner of the #2 American/#3 Lehigh game, being played at this moment. |
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