LOWELL, Mass. – Despite a game-high 15 points from Katherine Smith (Fort Wayne, Ind.), the UMass Lowell women's basketball team suffered its first defeat at the Costello Athletic Center this season, falling 61-52 against Colgate on Wednesday night.

Smith shot 6-of-10 from the field to lead the River Hawks (3-6) and for the second consecutive contest Bri Stiers (Denver, Colorado) matched her career best with 12 points. Guard Ren'Cia Rolling (Lansing, Ill.) led all players with six assists as well. 

The Raiders (4-4) had two players reach double-figures, as well, with Mylah Chandler scoring 14 and Summer King adding 12 points. 

"My main thought is disappointment. I'm unhappy at this moment because I thought we allowed our opportunities to slip away from us," remarked Head Coach Tom Garrick. "Colgate came in very prepared and they made us alter our style of play, and we couldn't make the adjustments, which is on me, and I'll take the blame for that. I'm most upset that I did not have our kids prepared to play the right way.

With no misses in their first three shots, the hosts took a 6-2 lead early on, and behind nine points from the duo of Smith and Stiers, UMass Lowell built an 11-4 buffer at the first media timeout of the night.
 
The Raiders closed the gap to two points with a 5-0 run coming out of the timeout, but Oda Shackelford (Edinburgh, Ind.) responded with four straight points as part of a 6-0 spurt for the River Hawks.
 
Facing a 20-13 deficit, Colgate was able to score the final three of the quarter to trim the UMass Lowell lead to 20-16 at the end of the first quarter. During a 13-2 in the middle stages of the second period, Colgate took its first lead of the contest, 26-24, with 5:07 remaining in the first half.
 
Trailing 34-26 with under three to play, Bri Rudolph ended the drought and sparked a mini spurt for the hosts that saw the gap shrink to four with less than 30 ticks on the clock. Colgate picked up the final bucket of the half to take the 36-30 advantage into the break.
 
To open the second half, the River Hawks battled back from down, 38-30, to get within 42-41 capped by a Kharis Idom (Orlando, Fla.) three-pointer with 5:17 on the clock. Colgate was able to score the next six points before Shackelford ended the drought with 21 seconds showing in the third.
 
UMass Lowell was able to pull within 50-45 in the opening stages of the final quarter, but a Colgate three-pointer sparked a change in momentum and soon the deficit was 57-47. 

The River Hawks play host to Providence at Costello on Saturday at 1 p.m.