HAMILTON - Taylor Golembiewski dropped a career-high 26 points on the way to a 74-62 season opening victory over UMass Lowell on Monday night.

With the win, the Raiders earned their third consecutive season opening victory and sixth straight home opener win. Colgate now has emerged victorious against UMass Lowell in each of the last five contests.

COACH ADEDUNTAN'S COMMENTS

"We were ready to play, it was less about talk, more of a mentality and I thought they made a decision to come out and play Colgate basketball. We saw them be really unselfish moving the ball around, 17 assists which is excellent for us. To get inside out attack that's Colgate. I'm just really proud of the tone we set from the beginning. I felt like we could have been a little bit better defensively but we will keep working at it. We don't need to be at our best version today. 

We have what we're hoping for will be a deep bench as the season goes on. We're in some exploration phases right now early on in the season to see what works, best rotations, but I'm really pleased and happy with the people that came in and just brought a spark in their own way."

HOW IT HAPPENED
 

• Taylor Golembiewski netted the Raiders first five points including a triple on the first possession.
• Golembiewski paced Colgate with 12 points in the first quarter helping the Raiders take a 23-18 lead after the first frame.
• The Raiders went on a 13-4 run to start the second quarter with six different players posting a point in the run.
• Colgate took a 42-30 lead into the half.
• UMass Lowell were able to cut the deficit to seven in the third quarter but still trailed 54-46 heading into the final quarter.
• Sophia Diehl hit her third three of the game two minutes into the fourth quarter pushing the Raiders lead to 13.
• Golembiewski hit a stepback jumper for her 26th point of the night setting a new career high
• The River Hawks clawed back to within nine with just over a minute remaining until Madison Schiller hit a dagger triple to stifle any comeback opportunity.

GAME NOTES
 

• Taylor Golembiewski set a new career high with 26 points moving her to 17th all-time in Colgate Raiders scoring, just seven points away from jumping up to 16th.
• Colgate's 74 points is the most in a season opener since 2019 where they scored 79.
• The Raiders finished with four double-digit scorers with Taylor Golembiewski, Anne Bair, Sophia Diehl, and Madison Schiller.
• Anne Bair added five assists while Schiller, Diehl, and Christina Midgette each posted five boards.
• Colgate logged ten different players with at least one point in the game

UP NEXT
The Raiders (1-0) head west to California for a matchup with CSU Bakersfield on Friday, Nov. 8.