LEWISBURG — After the Bison brought the game within one point towards the end of the fourth quarter, Tuana Coskun missed a three, but Houghton came up with a tough offensive board to allow Coach Woodruff to call a timeout and draw up a play. Out of the timeout, Coskun drew multiple defenders to her and then passed the ball to Isabella Casey on the corner who threw the ball up with 18 seconds left in regulation and drained what ended up being a game-winning three for the Bison, as they defeated Colgate 46-43 in Sojka Pavilion to earn their first Patriot League win of the season.

The Raiders (5-12, 1-5 PL) held a lead from late in the first quarter through late in the fourth quarter, but a defensive push by the Bison (5-12, 1-5 PL) left Colgate with just two points in the final quarter of play, allowing Bucknell to close the gap, take the lead and secure the win with seconds remaining in the contest to break its five-game losing streak. 

Casey led the team in scoring alongside Tuana Coskun, who both had 15 points. Casey shot 5-for-10 from the field and 3-for-4 from three while going a perfect 2-for-2 from the line. She also notched five rebounds. Coskun shot 6-for-18 from the field and recorded four rebounds and two assists. 

Elena Houghton led the team in rebounds with seven, one of which being an offensive board that set up the game-winning shot in the final stages of regulation. She also had a team-high four assists and three steals. Anna Kunzwiler tied the team-high assists with four in the contest as well. 

The Bison, mainly Reese Zemitis and Casey, held Colgate’s leading scorer, Ella Meabon to 1-of-16 shooting from the field to aid in the low scoring nature of the game. Prior to this contest, Meabon averaged 14.8 points per game for the Raiders and has been a major kick-starter for the Colgate offense.

Colgate was led by Grace Klag, a player that transferred to the Raiders from Bucknell after her freshman season in 2022/23. Klag finished the game with 12 points, 19 rebounds and four assists. The Raider secured a first-half double double as she recorded 10 points and 13 rebounds by halftime.

The first quarter of the game went back-and-forth with both teams struggling to find points.  Tuana Coskun led the Bison in first quarter points with seven of the team’s nine. She opened the quarter with a layup after the first two and a half minutes went scoreless. Almost two minutes of turnovers and missed shots later, Hankerson hit a three for Colgate to put them up 3-2 with 6:04 left to play. A minute later, Coskun made a layup for the Bison to regain the lead 4-3. Over a minute of missed opportunities later, Coskun got followed on a shot and made the and-one to put the Bison up 7-3 at the media timeout. Colgate came out of the break and hit a layup, but Hope Masonius quickly answered with a jump shot to make it 9-5. Colgate then went on a 5-0 run to take an 11-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.