HAMILTON, N.Y. -- A strong first quarter by the Big Red was soiled by Colgate as Cornell dropped its 2023-24 season opener to the Raiders, 71-60, at Cotterell Court in Hamilton, N.Y. on Tuesday evening. The Big Red (0-1, 0-0 Ivy) dropped the season-opener at Colgate (1-0, 0-0 Patriot) for the second consecutive season.

The Big Red offense was led by senior captain Kaya Ingram, who tallied 15 points and a team-high five rebounds. The Big Red freshman core was active, with four of the five rookies making their first-career appearances and points. Rachel Kaus led the first-years with eight points, followed by Azareya Kilgoe who notched six. Clarke Jackson tallied five points with Maya Watts rounding out the rookie crew with five points. Vivienne Knee tallied a career-high seven points on a perfect shooting day from all three zones. Sophomore Emily Pape was held to just six points in the contest, her fewest since Feb. 3, 2023, when she was help to a blank against Princeton.

Colgate was led by preseason All-Patriot League honoree Taylor Golembiewski, who tallied 22 points in the outing. Tiasia McMillan and Morgan McMahon followed with 14 and 12 points respectably. McMillan added a game-high nine rebounds. Alexa Brodie wrapped up double-digit scoring with 11 points.

FIRST QUARTER

• Cornell won the jump on a loose ball, but an early offensive foul on Kilgoe give Colgate the first full possession, leading to a hook shoot for two.
• An Ingram steal led to the first Big Red points of the season, where she went coast-to-coast to find Jackson under the basket for the layup.
• The steal game led to more points when a Pape swipe led to a layup set up for Beam. Beam drew the foul through contact and made both shots at the charity stripe for the first Big Red lead of the day, 4-3.
• Jackson upped her first quarter total to four with a steal-and-score starting in the Big Red backcourt, helping Cornell to a 7-3 lead through the first media timeout.
• Watts tallied her first career points out of the break on a jumper from the elbow to extend the Cornell lead to six.
• Four consecutive Colgate free throws dropped the Big Red lead to two, before Summer Parker-Hall drew an and-one and cashed the extra point to make it a 12-7 game.
• Back-to-back baskets by the Raiders dropped the Cornell lead to one after the first 10 minutes of action.

SECOND QUARTER

• Pape opened the second quarter scoring with a turn around layup, the first points of a 6-2 Cornell run.
• Colgate nearly matched the run to bring up a 20-17 scoreline are the media break.
• Vivienne Knee threw up an acrobatic layup from under the basket to keep the Big Red ahead between two Colgate buckets, but the Raiders fought back to take the lead with 2:55 remaining in the second.
• A pair of Ingram free throws ignited four lead changes, ending in Colgate's favor at halftime, with a narrow one-point lead at 28-27.

THIRD QUARTER

• A deep Colgate two built a three-point lead before Kilgoe capitalized off a Pape steal to bring the deficit back to one.
• The Raiders put together five straight before Beam broke the streak with her first live basket of the day off a layup.
• The basket was the start of a 6-1 Cornell run before Colgate earned its way back to the free-throw line.Golembiewski hit only one of two attempts, but found her way back to the strip on the next Raiders possession to build the lead back to four.
• Two Raider baskets 15 seconds apart pushed the score to a 43-35 home-team favor at the media timeout.
• Kaus came out of the break with a gritty layup, but Colgate maintained its momentum, allowing only two free throws on two separate trips to the stripe while scoring five.
• Ingram broke the drought with a layup through traffic, but the Raiders attack continued, extending its lead to 52-41 for the first double-digit lead by either team with 1:34 remaining in the quarter.
• The quarter closed with a 54-43 Colgate advantage.

FOURTH QUARTER

• Both teams went over two minutes without a tally to open the fourth quarter until Colgate again opened the scoring with a long two.
• Back-and-forth baskets ensued to bring up a 60-48 scoreline at the media break.
• Cornell outscored the Raiders out of the break 6-4 until the Big Red called timeout with 2:17 left on the clock, but the comeback came up short.

UP NEXT

• Cornell will remain on the road as the Big Red continue a four-game away stretch, next traveling to Southern Illinois.
• Tip off is set for 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 11, in Carbondale, Ill. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.