HAMILTON, N.Y. – The Big Red women's basketball team saw four of its five starters reach double-figures, and forced 24 turnovers, to defeat Colgate, 70-57, this evening at Cotterell Court in Hamilton, N.Y. With the win, its sixth in a row over the Raiders, Cornell improves to 3-0 to start a season for the first time since the 1993-94 squad defeated Colgate, St. Bonaventure, and Davidson.
 
Cornell was led by Megan LeDuc with 19 points to go along with five assists and five rebounds. Forward Nicholle Aston chipped in 14 points, while Kerri Moran (13) and Nia Marshall (10) both finished in double-digits. Both Aston and Marshall grabbed a game-high seven rebounds, and Marshall filled out the stat line with five assists, four steals and one block. Moran posted a game-high eight assists and grabbed five boards.
 
The Big Red shot nearly 50 percent for the game (.491; 26-of-543), and a season-best 42.1 percent from 3-point range (8-19). Cornell held the significant 39-25 advantage on the boards and assisted on 21-of-26 baskets.
 
The Raiders were led by Kateri Stone's game-high 22 points on a 7-of-10 performance from the floor. Freshman Rachel Thompson, the reigning Patriot League Rookie of the Week finished with 12.   

Colgate (0-3) shot just 38.2 percent from the floor (21-55) and a mere 23.5 percent from beyond the arc.
 
Colgate got out to a quick 9-5 lead, with Thompson scoring the Raiders first six points, but consecutive treys from LeDuc and Taylor DePalma, combined with some lockdown defense and a smothering press, opened up a 12-0 run for the visitors to go up 17-9 at the 3:29 mark.
 
The Big Red took a 19-14 lead into the first break and pushed its advantage to double-digits (24-14) early in the second quarter off a layup from Marshall. The Raiders temporarily made it an eight-point game but a trey from LeDuc, followed by a tough jumper in the lane from Aston pushed Cornell's lead to 13 points (29-16) with 6:55 to play.
 
The Big Red steadily increased its lead to 18 points (38-20) after four consecutive points from Aston, but Colgate responded with seven unanswered points to make it a 40-29 contest. Moran hit a jumper from just inside the arc at the buzzer to send Cornell into halftime with the 42-29 lead.
 
The teams traded buckets early in the third before the Raiders used another small run to pull within 10 points (48-38), but the visitors responded with an 12-2 run, including back-to-back layups from Maddy Reed and four consecutive free throws from Moran to take a 60-40 lead into the final break.
  
LeDuc opened the final quarter with a trey and the Raiders never got back within 12 points, despite Coach Smith's liberal use of the bench over the final 10 minutes.
 
The Big Red remains on the road this weekend, traveling to Towson on Saturday, Nov. 19 for a contest at noon.
 
NOTES TO KNOW
* Cornell has won six in row, and 10 of the last 11 vs. Colgate.
* Coach Smith is now 10-3 all-time in the series and 21-16 vs. the Patriot League. 
* The Big Red has gone 5-1 against the Patriot League over the past three seasons, including a mark of 2-0 this year.