Army Black Knights Women’s Hoops Top Raiders

WEST POINT – Three Cadets scored in double-digits to help Army West Point women’s basketball (7-5, 2-1) capture a 66-63 victory over Colgate (2-13, 0-4) on Saturday afternoon at Christ Arena.

Hope Brown led the Black Knights with a season-high 16 points along with five rebounds.

Alisa Fallon contributed 14 points, five rebounds, and five assists. Sabria Hunter followed with 13 points and 14 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season. Hunter racked up five steals for Army as well.

The first quarter was a battle between the Black Knights and the Raiders. Army claimed the upper hand in the ten-minute period outscoring Colgate, 18-17. At 7:19, Hunter knocked down two free throws to ignite a 7-0 scoring run for Army while holding Colgate scoreless for two minutes. The teams went back-and-forth before Colgate took a 17-15 lead over the Black Knights. With a minute left in the quarter, Brown rallied the Cadets with a put back layup with contact to send her to the charity stripe. The junior hit the free throw to take back the lead for Army, 18-17. Fallon led the Black Knights with seven points and three assists in the quarter.

The opening minutes of the second quarter were back-and-forth with Army leading 22-21 with just under seven minutes left. Sam McNaughton hit a three-pointer to start momentum for the Black Knights. The team took off on a 6-0 scoring run to lead 28-21 with four and a half minutes left. Army’s offense found its groove scoring 20 points in the second quarter shooting 54 percent from the floor while holding Colgate to a mere nine. The Black Knights maintained a 38-26 lead over the Raiders heading into halftime.

Kate Murray opened the quarter with two free throws to increase Army’s lead to 40-26. The Black Knights hit a scoring drought for the next five minutes, allowing the Raiders to cut Army’s lead to 40-33. At 4:25 on the clock, Fallon hit a two-point jumper to break Army’s silence. It was back-and-forth for the rest of the quarter, but Army came out on top with a 49-42 lead over Colgate heading into the fourth quarter.

McNaughton scored the first point of the quarter for the Black Knights to increase the team’s lead to 51-42. Kamryn Hall fired off five points in less in a minute off a three-pointer and two free throws to give Army a 10-point lead over Colgate. The Raiders fought back to get within five with 3:30 left. The teams went scoreless for the next three minutes until Fallon knocked down two free throws for Army as the Black Knights secured the 66-63 win over the Raiders.

“Colgate was determined and played like they had nothing to lose, we were fortunate to leave with the win. Though we won, we need to play smarter and fundamentally sound basketball for 40 minutes if we want to consistently win games. We take tonight’s win and use it to prepare for a strong Boston [University] team on Wednesday,” said Missy Traversi
Army hits the road to take on Boston University on Wednesday, Jan. 12 for a 6 p.m. showdown.