Casey Ryder, Staff Writer |
This past Friday, the women’s basketball team fell to Cortland 58-39. The meeting of the archrivals was a grudge match as the two teams met earlier in the year with Cortland winning 77-65. Needless to say, there was a lot at stake heading into this one.
The first quarter was very evenly contested with Cortland up 12-11 at the break. In the early stages, defense reigned supreme with both teams failing to create good shots. However, that changed as the quarter continued on with Cortland hitting a series of three pointers from Shannon Mcguire and Corinne Miedreich. Oneonta also landed a shot from three towards the end of the quarter, courtesy of sophomore Molly Stephens to cut Cortland’s lead to 1.
In the second quarter the game remained competitive, but Cortland began to expand their lead towards the end of the quarter. In the early stages, Cortland forward Nyia Longford, who was influential throughout the entire quarter, assisted Sarah Tully for a layup to put Cortland up by 3. Following a free throw from Oneonta’s Olivia Dobrovsky, Longford drew a foul and scored the two, ensuing free throws to put Cortland up by 4. Towards the end of the quarter after Oneonta had reduced the lead to 1, Cortland went on a 6-0 scoring run in the last two and a half minutes to go into halftime up 22-15.
In the third quarter, Cortland continued to expand their lead. After a Molly Stephens free throw cut the lead to six, Cortland went into the first media timeout up 29-16. Later in the quarter their dominance continued. Their offense was firing on all cylinders with Casey Travers in particular scoring seven points in the quarter. At the other end, Oneonta struggled to create any offense. It was a thoroughly dominant performance from Cortland and at the end of the quarter they led 48-26.
Moving into the fourth, Cortland continued to impress as they limited Oneonta on the defensive and offensive end. Cortland added to their lead thanks to a couple of three pointers from Fiona Mullen and Shannon McGuire, as well as a layup from Logan Streety which put them up by 25 at the first media timeout. With the game being somewhat lopsided with five minutes to go, both coaches decided to go to their benches and give opportunities to players who usually don’t see much of the court. For the remainder of the game there wasn’t much scoring and while our girls fought hard, in the end it was Cortland who prevailed 58-39.
They’re now just two games remaining in the regular season for our Red Dragons, the first of which is tonight at 5:30 p.m. against Potsdam. The second is tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. vs Plattsburgh and both games are home at Dewar Arena. These are crucial games for the team in their hopes of making the conference tournament, so they need your support now more than ever. Go out and support your Red Dragons!
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