HAMILTON, N.Y. – Lafayette women's basketball took on Colgate in its final game of 2025 and fell in nail-biting fashion, 63-57, at Cotterell Court. Teresa Kiewiet paced the Leopards on offense with 16 points, while Talia Zurinskas (12) and Sauda Ntaconayigize (14) tacked on 26 points in the Leopards' conference opener.

The Maroon and White hopped out to a 9-6 lead with 5:45 to go, courtesy of buckets by Kiewiet, Ntaconayigize and freshman forward Maddison Krug. Colgate responded with a 9-0 run that handed it a 15-9 advantage at the 2:22 mark. After 10 minutes had expired in Hamilton, the hosts were out in front 15-12.

Head coach Kia Damon-Olson's group outscored the Raiders 20-16 in the second stanza, led by eight points from Kiewiet and Zurinskas. After a back-and-forth start to the quarter, Colgate found themselves with a five-point lead (28-23) with 2:41 remaining in the half, but down the stretch the Leopards got hot. Kiewiet knocked down a big triple at the 1:53 mark that brought Lafayette within one point (29-28). With under a minute to play in the half, the Leopards recorded back-to-back stops, which led to Zurinskas netting four points in 50 seconds to put Lafayette on top, 32-31 at the break.

Colgate's defense was the highlight of the third period, only allowing the Maroon and White nine points. Freshman guard Haylie Adamski drained a three-pointer to begin the second half, prior to the Raiders' largest scoring run of the day (14-0). Zurinskas got Lafayette back on track with a mid-range jumper, but it still faced a nine-point deficit (45-36) with 5:33 left in the quarter. After over two scoreless minutes, junior guard Rosie Scognamiglio got a triple to fall and Lafayette only trailed by six (47-41) with 10 minutes to go.

The Leopards continued to chip away at Colgate's lead early into the fourth quarter, however, the hosts seemed to have a response for every Lafayette bucket. Ntaconayigize went 2-for-3 at the line and baskets by Kiewiet and Zurinskas brought the Leopards within two points with 1:57 remaining. After a costly turnover, Lafayette had to resort to intentionally fouling and at the final horn Colgate escaped with a narrow victory.

Rebounding and second-chance points were the keys to Wednesday's contest. The Raiders claimed 14 more rebounds than Lafayette (46-32) and their 14 offensive boards led to 12 second-chance points compared to the Leopards' two.

After playing seven of its last eight games on the road, Lafayette returns to Kirby Sports Center at 2 p.m. on Saturday to continue Patriot League play against Loyola Md.
 

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