Box Score Box Score

AMHERST, Mass. – Despite challenging No. 23 Colby College (1-0) early, the State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team (1-2) was unable to contain the Mules throughout the latter portion of the contest, as Colby cruised to a 61-46 win over the Hawks on the first day of the 2010 Amherst College Tip-Off Tournament Saturday evening in LaFrak Gymnasium.

Colby opened with an 11-5 lead, but the Hawks went on a 10-2 run over the next four minutes to go ahead by two. The Mules called a 30-second timeout, and Julianna Kowalski nailed a jumper to even the score. After a New Paltz turnover, Diana Manduca missed a layup, and junior point guard Kaitlin Clifford (Staten Island, N.Y.) drilled a three-pointer on the ensuing possession to put the blue and orange back up.

The Hawks would extend the lead to four with 8:38 left in the first half with a layup by junior forward Shanay Bradley (Bronx, N.Y.), but the Mules answered with an Aarika Ritchie three. Junior guard Caitlin Irwin (Brooklyn, N.Y.) pushed the margin back to four in favor of New Paltz at 23-19, and junior guard/forward Bridget Grover (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) extended the lead to six, which would serve as the Hawks' largest of the night.

Colby, however, went on an 11-4 run to close the half, and the Mules held a one-point lead at 30-29 at the intermission. Poor shooting in the second half would ultimately be New Paltz's undoing, and the Mules capitalized on those missed shots, opening the second half on a 14-2 tear. Despite applying a full-court press in the waning minutes of the game, the Hawks were unable to overcome their slow start to the half.

New Paltz's signature superb interior play was thwarted by Colby's post players, as the Mules outrebounded the Hawks by a 47-36 margin. The Hawks shot a respectable 11-for-27 in the first half (40.7 percent), but their shooting cooled off in the second stanza, making just six shots in 32 attempts from the field (18.8 percent). On the evening, they wound up shooting 28.8 percent from the floor.

Sophomore forward Alex McCullough (Delmar, N.Y.) tied for the game-high in points with 15, doing so off 5-of-13 shooting from the floor and 2-of-2 shooting from the charity stripe. Both Bradley and sophomore guard Maliqua Fisher (North Babylon, N.Y.) grabbed the team-high in boards with seven each, and McCullough thrived on the defensive end, swatting a game-high four shots. Irwin tied for the game-high in steals with three.

For Colby, Jil Vaughan recorded a double-double in just 15 minutes coming off the bench, scoring 15 points and caroming 10 rebounds, all of which came at the defensive end of the court. Rachael Mack drained 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while Ritchie tied Irwin for the game-high in steals with three.

Tomorrow will be no easier for the Hawks, as they face No. 1 Amherst College at 4 p.m. on the second and final day of the Amherst Tip-Off Tournament. Last year, Amherst reached the national semifinals in the NCAA Championships.