The AU Women's Basketball team split its second straight weekend, registering a road win at Bucknell Friday night before suffering one of its worst losses of the season, losing 67-45 at Colgate Sunday afternoon.
"Today was just a poor effort," said Eagles coach Melissa McFerrin of Sunday's game. "We just didn't come ready to play."
AU certainly wasn't ready to play coming out of the locker room in the second half. The Eagles went without a field goal for the first eight minutes of the half, turning a five-point halftime deficit into an insurmountable 17-point one before sophmore guard Tara Williams ended the drought with a jumper.
Williams led AU with 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field. Colgate, on the other hand, got balanced scoring, with four players in double figures, led by Emily Braseth's 14 points.
The most astounding statistic was the Eagles' assist-to-turnover ratio. The Eagles registered only three assists, a season low, while committing 24 turnovers in the game. Colgate dished out 16 assists.
"I'm not satisfied with where we are at this point," McFerrin said. "Winning is never easy, but you have to come in mentally strong, and we didn't do that today."
Along with the turnovers, AU was once again plagued by its free-throw shooting struggles, as the Eagles shot 9 of 23 from the line, including 3 of 11 in the second half. Senior center Kim Salem missed five of seven.
The Eagles missed all six of their three-point attempts, while the Raiders hit 6 of 11, another key difference in the game.
AU's poor effort came on the heels of a big win in Friday night's showdown at Sojka Pavilion against PL rival Bucknell.
The Eagles beat the Bison, 56-53, behind 16 points from the suddenly reliable backcourt of senior Joanna Barnes and Williams.
AU led through the first half, with a lead as big as six on multiple occasions, but Bucknell tied the game at 25 with 3:43 left on a driving layup by the Bison's leading scorer, Brooke Tomovich.
AU answered back with tough defense and buckets by junior center Abby Lipskis and Williams to enter the locker room with a 29-25 lead.
The two teams played a back-and-forth second half in which the Bison controlled the tempo, but after a Tomovich jumper with 2:12 left put the Bison up, 53-50, the Eagles scored the final six points while hitting 4 of 4 from the free-throw line to notch a big road win that put them in third place in the Patriot League.
Tomovich led the Bison with 25 points and 10 rebounds, while Lindsey Hollobaugh chipped in with 13 points. Point guard Lindsey Goesits was held scoreless by the attacking Eagles defense.
Lipskis continued her strong play, as she scored eight points and pulled down three rebounds.
The weekend was the first time in two years that senior forward Chanel Hunt hasn't started. Pulled from the lineup in favor of fellow senior Damarah Rhymer, Hunt continued to struggle as she combined to score eight points on 4-of-12 shooting, and she committed a team-high five turnovers in Sunday's game.
"I made the decision [to sit Hunt] because she hasn't been giving us what she's capable of and [Rhymer's] played well all year, so we're going to go with this for a little," McFerrin said.
McFerrin has showed that she's not afraid to go with the hot hand, as Lipskis has played more down the stretch in place of the ineffective Salem, while hardworking senior forward Jenyce Woodruff has continued to log heavy minutes.
Heading into Sunday's action, the Eagles were in third place and in prime position heading into the PL tournament. But the loss to Colgate, combined with Army's 63-49 win over Lafayette, dropped the Eagles behind Army and Colgate into fifth place as they head into their Wednesday night showdown with the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore.
