WASHINGTON – Hoping to keep up momentum as the Patriot League season gets going in earnest, American University women's basketball will face off with Colgate on Wednesday, Jan. 7 in Bender Arena. The Eagles and the Raiders will tipoff at 6 p.m. ET, airing nationally on ESPN+.
        
Follow Along

• Date/Time: Wednesday, Jan. 7; 6 p.m.
• Site: Washington, D.C. (Bender Arena)
• TV: ESPN+

Series History

• The series between the Eagles and the Raiders dates back to 2002 with AU holding a dominant 39-12 lead in the head-to-head battle. At home, in Bender Arena, American leads 19-4 in the series. Two of those losses have come within the previous two seasons.
• Most recently, in 2025, Colgate swept the series against AU, outscoring American in each game by a wide, 19+ point margins.
• Over the past ten games, the Eagles have four wins, and in the last five, AU has only picked up one win.

Tipping Off

• The Eagles picked up their first conference win of the season, and of 2026, on Saturday (Jan. 3) against Boston University at home in Bender Arena, taking down the Terriers 53-45.
• The second period saw American outscore Boston 22-4 in order to nab the victory, holding onto the lead as BU made attempts to climb back in the third period. The second period turnaround was led by Driscoll with eight points in the period and Elie Pingree and Madisyn Moore-Nicholson with five and four points respectively.
• American, a team that has struggled in the post both offensively and defensively this season, improved in points in the paint, scoring 20, and, after having difficulties taking points from the bench, led the Terriers in bench points, 21-13, and in points off turnovers, 20-5.
• Against both Loyola and Boston U., the Eagles only committed eight turnovers in each game. The last time an AU team recorded fewer than ten turnovers was when the squad allowed nine against Boston University on March 9, 2020.
• It was another career day for Moore-Nicholson, who was a key player on both ends of the court for American, leading the squad in rebounds, 10, and with her 11 points, she cached in her first career double-double. Second on the squad in scoring, Moore-Nicholson is averaging 11.1 points per game this season and has seen 20+ point games in two of the previous three contests. Across the run of six most recent games, the sophomore guard has scored 10+ points per game.
• Driscoll topped the Eagles with her 15 points on the afternoon. The sophomore has led the Eagles a team-leading six times in scoring this season. The sophomore guard leads the squad in scoring, and is currently ninth in the PL, with her 13.8 ppg average, and has had two 20+ point games this year, scoring 29 points on the road at La Salle (Nov. 22) and 24 points at VCU (Dec. 16). Driscoll is eighth in the PL with 22 made three point field goals on the season; she's shooting 32.8 percent from distance.
• Against the Terriers, sophomore post Pingree was a massive contributor with nine points and eight rebounds. She also notched a career-high 3 blocks.
• Making her return to play after injury, Laura Nogues saw action against the Greyhounds and the Terriers. Against BU, the senior started off the final period with back-to-back three point jumpers for AU–along with another from Moore-Nicholson– to put the Eagles up 10 with seven minutes to go in the contest. The two threes were Nogues' first points of the season after returning from injury; she finished with seven points and six rebounds, behind only Moore-Nicholson's 10 rebounds and Pingree's eight. 

Scouting the Raiders

• Colgate, after a conference opening, 63-57, win at home against Lafayette on New Years Eve, most recently, fell at home to Army (Jan. 3), 81-49, after a slow first half had them at a detriment that they couldn't surmount.
• The Raiders fought back though, grinding to even the scoring in the third and fourth quarter to only be outscored by five overall in the second half. Twenty-two of Colgate's points came from the bench.
• Overall, the Raiders hold a 5-8 record under newly minted head coach Shannon Bush. Bush, in her first year, had Colgate starting out on a 4-1 record this season before a seven-game loss streak finished out the nonconference season. The Raiders, like the Eagles, are 1-1 in Patriot League play so far.
• Ella Meabon and Taye Matthews tied for leading the team in scoring with 10 points apiece against Army. It was Meabon's seventh time leading in scoring and Matthews' fifth this season.
• Meabon has been an offensive force for the Raiders this season, leading the squad with a 14.9 ppg average, which puts her at sixth, currently, in the league. She's the only Raider in double-digit scoring across the season, and she is second on the Raiders' squad in rebounding, tallying an average of 4.8 boards per game behind Abby Ferguson's 5.0 rpg.
• Meabon is ninth in the league in field goal percentage, shooting 39.9 percent, and first in three throw percentage at 84.7 percent from the line. This season, the junior has had seven 10+ point games, three 20+ point games, and a 35 point game against New Hampshire. She was three points shy of the single-game record (38), and she went 13-for-17 from the floor and 9-for-11 from the free-throw line. Her 35 points match the most ever scored in Cotterell Court History and ranks second-best single-scoring performance. 

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