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Eagles Drop Patriot League Championship Game at Colgate, 71-60
Hunt leads Eagles with 17 points

Chanel Hunt finished her junior season just six points away from 1,000 points with 17 points in the PL Championship game, but AU lost, 71-60.

March 10, 2004 | Boxscore

HAMILTON, N.Y . – Chanel Hunt (Raleigh, N.C./Ravenscroft) scored 17 points and Joanna Barnes (Washington, D.C./Dunbar) added 13 points, but it was not quite enough as the American University women’s basketball team lost to Colgate, 71-60, Wednesday in the Patriot League Championship game at Cotterell Court.

“I thought the outcome would be different,” said American University head coach Shann Hart. “We didn’t make plays and we didn’t make shots. We were very pleased with the overall effort of the team, particularly in the second half.”

The Eagles stayed close early in the first half, however, the Raiders went on a 12-2 run to extend their lead from three points (14-11) to 13 (26-13) with 7:09 left in the half. The Eagles trailed by as many as 12 points with 1:19 left in the half when Jenyce Woodruff (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) started American on a 7-0 run to close out the half strong with a steal and layup. Kaitlin Schuyler (Baltimore, Md./Mercy) followed with a short jumper and Barnes hit a three as time expired to cut the score to 36-31.

The Eagles fell behind 12 in the second half, but once again made another run to climb within three (59-56) with 3:56 left in the game on a layup by Hunt. However, that was as close as AU would come the rest of the way.

Hunt finished with 17 points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists. Barnes had three rebounds to go along with her 13 points. Schuyler finished with 12 points, two assists and hit a pair of threes in 29 minutes. Chanel Spriggs (Sunderland, Md./Northern) led AU in rebounding with nine and had a game-high seven steals.

“We didn’t get to the line as much as we needed to and we got outhustled and outrebounded,” said Hart. “We came in with the same game plan of containing Braseth (Emily) and Burke (Malissa) but we just didn’t get it done.”

American finishes the year 16-14, which is the most games the Eagles have played in a season and they are 0-3 in championship games. As a team AU breaks the school single-season record for steals (370) and forced turnovers (709). Individually, Hunt ends her junior year just six points shy of a 1,000 in her career. Spriggs finishes her career with a school-record 334 steals.

Malissa Burke led Colgate with 23 points and four rebounds in 38 minutes of action and was chosen as the tournament MVP. Barnes and Hunt represented American on the PL All-Tournament Team.