For the first time in nearly 15 years, the Ithaca College women’s basketball team will take on a Division I opponent during its season-opener against the DI Colgate University Raiders.
The last time the Bombers played a regular season game against a DI opponent was a 60-40 loss to the Cornell Big Red in January 2012. Head coach Dan Raymond said he has repeatedly reached out to nearby DI schools, such as Le Moyne College and Binghamton University.
This season, Colgate reached out to IC, following a similar matchup against Liberty League Championship rival Union College during the 2024-25 season. Raymond said he partially attributes this to the Bombers’ reputation, as well as more practical reasons.
“[Playing a DIII school] is always a good thing because [Colgate] can see it as an opportunity to make sure that what they have in place is going to work,” Raymond said. “They can play their whole bench. … It gives them an opportunity to prepare without the same amount of pressure if they were playing another DI.”
“Guarantee games” are common in DI schools with competitive football programs. The DI school will pay a lower ranked school to travel to them to play with no set return game, with the expectation that the DI school will win and improve their season record.
While he declined to comment on specifics, Raymond said the Bombers did receive a guarantee from Colgate. Colgate’s athletic communications did not respond to a request for comment.
“We’re a Division III school, where we have to be aware of where our money goes and comes from,” Raymond said. “It did factor in, but I’ve always wanted to try to get an exhibition game. When the opportunity presented itself, I thought, ‘This is it. This is what I want to do. Let’s see how this goes.’”
Junior guard Madalyn Barrows played for the Division II Shepherd University Rams for a season before transferring to IC prior to the 2024-25 season. She said a major difference she is anticipating between the teams is the amount of time they spent preparing in the preseason.
“As soon as [DI and II teams] get back, they can have practices with their coach,” Barrows said. “Versus here at Ithaca, we only started a few weeks ago with actual practices. Colgate will be so much more well prepared than we are because they’ve had so much longer to get the fundamentals down, get team chemistry down with the freshmen.”
Despite the later start to the preseason, the teams’ upperclassmen took initiative to connect with new players by creating “sister groups,” where juniors and seniors connect with one or two players younger than them. Barrows said it created a sense of familiarity before the team returned to campus and set up the first-years for their futures with the Bombers.
“[The first-years] have to buy in that they have a role on this team,” Barrows said. “It might not be starting and playing 30 minutes, but your role in practice is just as important, and I think if they buy into that, that’ll help them next year, when they are gonna see more minutes, and they’ll be ready.”
No matter how experienced they are with the team, the game with Colgate presents players with the unique opportunity of nationwide coverage on ESPN+. Junior guard Tori Drevna said the coverage has not affected her approach going into the game.
“I honestly didn’t even figure that out until a couple days ago,” Drevna said. “I kind of agree with Coach [Raymond] on the fact that we just want to go out there and play. We’re not worried that it’s a Division I team. … We’re preparing in a way that we can compete with bigger and stronger girls.”
The team had an opportunity to familiarize itself with DI playing styles Oct. 24, when it participated in a scrimmage against Cornell. Raymond said the team’s leadership is focused on showing the players that they have the ability to play basketball at a high level.
“We want to be able to see our players compete with players like [Colgate],” Raymond said. “You look at the top teams in Division III … NYU hasn’t lost in two years. They have Division I [level] players on their roster. If we want to play at the national level, that’s the type of player that you’re going to have to play against. It’s helping [the team] understand the only difference between Colgate and Ithaca is maybe they’re a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger, a little bit faster, but we can accommodate for those differences by playing together.”
After facing Colgate, the Bombers will spend five more games on the road before returning to the Ben Light Gymnasium in December. The matchups include No. 7 SUNY Cortland and SUNY Brockport, who both reached the NCAA DIII Championships last season.
“Not only are we playing back-to-back-to-back, we’re also playing some of the best competition in DIII,” Barrows said. “Those days in between when we’re practicing, we really have to make sure we’re resting and refueling our bodies.”
Barrows said she believes the away game streak will be beneficial to the team because it means the end of the season, when players are dealing with injuries, will be mostly played at home. The team is also playing its first seven games out of conference, allowing the team to settle into the flow of the season before taking on the Liberty League Championship Tournament.
During their stretch on the road, Drevna said the players are being mindful of their bodies and trying to prevent injuries or overuse before they occur.
“We preach a lot about using the open athletic training hours,” Drevna said. “Going in, getting treatment for our bodies. Even if you’re not hurting or sore, just go in and get Normatec, loosen up your legs, do something.”
Despite the competition, Barrows said the team is looking forward to having fun on the road. She attributes the team’s confidence to the mindset cultivated by the coaching staff and players during the preseason.
“We play for each other, and the energy in that first scrimmage, it’s overwhelming,” Barrows said. “We might not be as fundamentally sound as [Colgate] is, but our chemistry and our energy is gonna lead us to be able to compete with them.”
Staff writer Khari Bolden contributed reporting.
