WASHINGTON – Hoping to swing the tide back its way, the American University women's basketball team will head north to Colgate to take on the Crusaders in what will be the Eagles' second of two road matchups this week.
 
QUICK INFO

• Date/Time: Saturday, Jan. 27, 2 p.m. 
• Site: Hamilton, N.Y. (Cotterell Court)
• Series History: American leads, 28-9
• TV: ESPN+

INSIDE THE SERIES

• American holds a dominant series lead over Colgate, including away in Cotterell Court; the Eagles lead 38-9 overall in program history and 16-6 in Hamilton.
• Despite this, AU is down 3-2 in the most recent of five contests between the two. The series has been split each of the last three seasons. In 2023, American won at home with a jump shot from Ivy Bales in the final moments, but away in New York, the Eagles were overtaken late in the fourth period to lose 48-52.
• In that most recent contest, the lead scorers for the Eagles were Emily Johns (15 points) and Kayla Henning (11 points). Bales led on the boards with 10 rebounds and contributed six points.
• The Raiders were led by Morgan McMahon and Taylor Golembiewski each with 10-points apiece. McMahon also led for Colgate on the boards, grabbing seven total. Both McMahon and Golembiewski remain on the roster this season as juniors.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT AMERICAN

• Despite the midweek loss to Holy Cross, dropping 48-59 on the road, the Eagles are still firmly in second in the Patriot League with a 5-2 record behind only the Crusaders who maintained their perfect 7-0 record with the win. American led by seven at halftime, but Holy Cross came back with a vengeance in the second half.
• Against the Crusaders, it was the bigs who changed the game offensively. Lauren Stack topped the crew with 11 points while Johns and Molly Lavin followed up with nine and seven points respectively.
• Lavin added three rebounds, two assists, and two steals. The Londoner was held to below average defensively on the night as she leads the Eagles in rebounding this season, averaging 5.2 per game. She's followed by Ivy Bales with 4.9 per game.
• Senior guards Bales, Anna LeMaster, and Kayla Henning led defensively with six rebounds each. Henning added nine points as well. But foul trouble kept Johns, Stack, and Bales from having a bigger impact.
• Bales is sixth in the league in assists, averaging 3.2 per game from 57 total. She's also number two in the league in steals, with 41 total and averaging 2.3 per game. After a slow start to the season offensively, the senior has also improved to 9.2 ppg, second on the team. 

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT COLGATE

• The Raiders are coming into the weekend with a 4-3 record in the Patriot League, riding a three-game losing streak. The losses have come against Army, Boston University, and most recently, Lehigh (61-79).
• So far this season the Eagles have wins over Army and BU and swept the series against Lehigh, but Colgate has a win over Loyola Maryland, who defeated American for their first Patriot League loss.
• Senior forward Tiasia McMillan led the Raiders in scoring for the second straight game finishing with 15 points, two rebounds, and one assist. McMillian is third on the team in scoring over the season, averaging 9.4 ppg and she leads in blocks with 17.
• Alexa Brodie and McMahon each contributed 10 points to the Raiders' campaign, but it wasn't enough to overcome the 45-20 halftime deficit they faced against the Mountain Hawks. Brodie is second on the team offensively with a 9.9 ppg average.
• Defensively, Sophie Diehl is on top for Colgate, taking a 5.5 boards per game average into Saturday's contest. Against Lehigh she had five rebounds and two steals on the defensive end and added eight points offensively.
• Another Raider that found offensive success against Lehigh was Golembiewski, who tallied eight points. The junior is leading the squad with an average of 12.6 ppg.

KEEP UP WITH US

• For the latest on American University Women's Basketball, stay tuned to AUEagles.com and follow the team on Twitter (@AU_WBasketball) and Instagram (@auwbasketball).