Sharp Shooting Lifts Army Over Colgate, 79-53

HAMILTON – Behind 13 made 3-pointers Army West Point women’s basketball topped Colgate, 79-53, Saturday afternoon at Cotterell Court.

“I’m excited about the mindset and the focus that we had today. We had some tremendous individual performances today, but all-in-all it was a great team win,” head coach Dave Magarity said.

Lauren Lithgow matched her career high with 19 points, shooting 5-7 from beyond-the-arc.

Natalie Stralkus contributed a season-high 16 points and was 4-8 from 3-point range.

Additionally, Taylor Sullivan registered her second career double-double, finishing with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

“For a while there Lithgow and Stralkus were both in a zone. Between the two of them the way they shot the three, with both shooting a combined 9-15 from three, that’s a heck of a stat line,” Magarity said.

“Honestly I think Lauren, Sarah Bohn and everybody else hit some big shots. We were really on fire from three today,” Stralkus said. “Having multiple people as threats from deep really opened things up. I was more open because my teammates were finishing.”

Army was a trey shy of tying its single-game program record, which it initially set in the same building on Jan. 5, 2020. The Black Knights also hit 14 3-pointers in the contest between the two schools at Christl Arena last season on Feb. 29, 2020.

Army took an early 12-5 lead by the midway point of the opening quarter, but Colgate’s Keelah Dixon scored the contest’s next seven points to even the score at 12 with just under three minutes left in first frame. From there, Army used an 18-2 over the course of the next eight minutes to take the 30-14 lead.

Lithgow scored the first nine points of the second, opening the frame 3-3 from 3-point range. Alisa Fallon also contributed seven points as the Black Knights went on to outscore the Raiders 24-15 in the quarter behind a 60 percent shooting percentage from the field and a 50 percent clip from deep. Army led 41-27 at the half.

The Cadets continued their sharp shooting in the third, connecting of five of their six attempts from 3-point range and were 7-10 from the field as a whole. Despite Colgate outscoring Army 14-12 in the fourth quarter, the Black Knights still managed to pull off the 26-point victory.

This was Army’s first win on the front end of a Patriot League weekend series this season.
“This is the way that we wanted to play and I think it’s just a reminder that we have it in us to play strong offensively and defensively,” Lithgow said. “A big Saturday win for us is a step in the right direction.”