Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
20-5, 12-3
Colgate
5-21, 4-11
Army Comes Back to Top Colgate, 48-47
February 18, 2015 | Women's Basketball
Army improves to 20-5 overall and 12-3 in the Patriot League, while Colgate drops to 5-21 and 4-11. With three regular-season games remaining, the Black Knights are in sole possession of second place in the conference standings with a 12-3 mark and stand one game behind American (13-2) and three games ahead of Lehigh and Navy, which are each 9-6 in the league.
Senior Missy Repoli converted a three-pointer 26 seconds into the second half to put Colgate in front by three before the Raiders extended their lead to five on two different occasions, doing so for the final time at the 17:58 mark.
Army used a 7-2 run during the next 7:17 to climb back to a 33-33 tie before Colgate netted eight unanswered points to take its largest lead of the game, 41-33, with 6:50 to play.
Junior Jean Parker buried a three-pointer at the 6:43 mark to kick start a 5-0 run that pulled the Black Knights back to within three before classmate Aimee Oertner made a contested lay-in to deadlock the game at 44-44 with 3:15 remaining.
Both teams made one free throw over the next 55 seconds as the score remained tied before Minato hit her second three-pointer of the contest with 1:15 left to put Army in front 48-45. Colgate senior Mariah Jones made two free throws with 57 ticks on the clock to bring the visitors back to within a point and both teams were unable to score potential game-changing buckets the rest of the way.
"We didn't play well and I thought Colgate had a lot to do with that," said Army head coach Dave Magarity. "But I also think we had a lot to do with that. I think we psyched ourselves out at times, we had players missing free throws that are usually automatic and we couldn't finish a fast break.
"We made big plays down the stretch. It's not about challenging our kids as much as it is about getting them refocused and executing the game plan against a good team like Colgate."
Minato paced the Black Knights with 18 points that included an 8-for-8 showing at the free throw line, while also adding three assists and three steals. Parker shot 3-of-4 from long range to finish with nine points and five boards and Oertner contributed eight points, eight rebounds and three blocks.
Repoli led Colgate with 12 points, while classmate Carole Harris also scored in double figures with 11 points.
Army opened the game with a 12-3 run that included six points from Parker, who went 2-of-2 from beyond the arc during the stretch. Colgate scored 10 straight points during a 4:20 span to go ahead 13-12 before the lead changed hands three more times, with Minato hitting a pair of free throws to give the Black Knights a 16-15 advantage at the 9:02 mark of the opening frame.
Those free three began an 8-2 Army run that made the score 22-17 with 3:55 remaining in the period. Minato accounted for seven of the Black Knights' eight points during the scoring spurt, shooting 2-of-3 from the field and 2-of-2 from the foul line, while also adding a steal.
The Raiders scored seven of the game's next nine points to pull even, as freshman Kateri Stone's triple at the 55-second mark knotted the score at 24-24. Army had its chances to take back the lead, but the Black Knights were unsuccessful on a pair of field goals attempts in the final 42 seconds of the half.
Army plays its final road contest of the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 21 when it travels to Washington, D.C., to take on Patriot League-leading American at 1 p.m.
GAME NOTES: Army picks up its second straight win over Colgate to improve to 36-21 in the all-time series between the schools ... Army grabbed its 20th victory of the season to mark the first time in program history the Black Knights have posted three consecutive 20-win campaigns ... Kelsey Minato made two three-pointers to reach 202 for her career and match the program record set by Jen Hansen (USMA '07) during the 2006-07 season ... Minato's 18-point scoring effort extended her Patriot League-record double-digit scoring streak to 74 games ... Army improves to 10-1 this year at Christl Arena.
