HAMILTON, N.Y. – Junior forward Lauren Crisler scored a career-high 20 points to lead the American University women's basketball team to a 49-37 Patriot League victory over Colgate on Saturday.

Crisler finished just shy of a double-double, matching a career high with nine rebounds, while freshman Cecily Carl added nine points and a personal-best nine rebounds. Freshman Elina Koskimies also grabbed nine boards to go with six points, while freshman point guard Kaitlyn Lewis dished out a team-high six assists.

Paige Kriftcher scored 13 points to lead the Raiders (3-9, 1-1), followed by Katie Curtis with 12 points. Meanwhile, Josie Stockill added 11 rebounds and seven blocks for Colgate, but was held scoreless for the game.

The Eagles (3-10, 1-1) won with strong defense, holding the Raiders to 18 percent shooting from the field. American also won the battle on the boards, outrebounding Colgate 53-41.

"We just grinded it out defensively today," said American head coach Megan Gebbia. "We didn't shoot the ball well, but we knew the scout and we knew what our game plan was.

"Our rebounding was also a positive—I thought we boxed out well and we forced them to take tough shots. When we do that, we know that we can play with people—it's just a matter of whether we can score on the other end."

American started out cold, missing its first 12 field goals of the first period as Colgate took a 7-0 lead with two and a half minutes remaining. A basket by sophomore Maria Liddane on the Eagles' next possession ended AU's scoring drought, sparking a 7-0 American run to tie the game. However, the Raiders knocked down a pair of free throws in the final minute to take a 9-7 lead into the second quarter.

Colgate extended its lead to 13-9 with just under eight minutes left in the second period, but the Eagles outscored the Raiders 11-3 over the final five minutes to take a 20-16 lead into the intermission.

The Raiders opened the third period on a 7-2 run to regain a one-point lead with 7:27 on the clock. However, Colgate did not score again in the quarter, and American was able to take a 34-23 advantage into the final stanza.

American's double-digit lead was cut to four points early in the fourth quarter after the Raiders knocked down three three-pointers. However, the Eagles responded with a 6-0 run, and the Raiders never got closer than eight points the rest of the way, as American picked up its first double-digit win of the season.

"I'm very proud of our point guards—they played really well and got some assists down the stretch when we needed to get big baskets," said Gebbia. "Lauren came up big in the second half, scoring 18 points in one half, and she held their best post player to zero. You've got to give her a lot of credit—she worked her butt off on the block and played great post defense.

"Other important things today were that that we finally had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio and got to the free throw line. Those are areas that we've been suffering in. I thought we handled their pressure well down the stretch too."

The Eagles return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 6, when they host Bucknell in their PL home opener at 7 p.m.