NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – Tournament MVP Nyia Longford (Medford/Longwood) scored 14 of her team-high 17 points in the second half, including three key free throws in the final 20 seconds, as Cortland defeated host New Paltz, 57-52, in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) women's basketball tournament championship game. 
 
Cortland (23-4), the second seed, won its eighth league tournament title and first since 2010. The Red Dragons earn an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III playoffs and will be making their third straight NCAA appearance and 13th overall. The NCAA selection show is tentatively scheduled for Monday at 2:30 p.m. on NCAA.com. 
 
New Paltz (23-4) had a 20-game winning streak snapped and will await a possible NCAA at-large berth. The Hawks had won the last three SUNYAC tournament titles, including championship-game wins over Cortland in both 2020 in New Paltz and last year in Cortland (the 2020-21 season was canceled). 
 
Longford was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Emily Morano (Olyphant, PA/Mid Valley) and Sarah Tully (East Aurora), along with Brianna Fitzgerald and Lexi Van Vorst from New Paltz and Kerry Dennin of Geneseo. 
 
Longford finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals. Tully scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds and Morano ended with nine points, eight rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals. Morano surpassed the career 1,000-point mark in her collegiate career with two free throws in the closing seconds. Her 1,001 career points include 351 for Cortland this season along with 650 points in two seasons at King's College (Pa.). 
 
Casey Travers (Manorville/Eastport-South Manor) also finished with nine points, Fiona Mullen (Orangeburg/Tappan Zee) scored five points, and Logan Streety (Elma/Iroquois) pulled down six rebounds. 
 
Fitzgerald led New Paltz with 28 points and nine rebounds and Van Vorst scored eight points and registered three steals. Jenny Walton added seven points and Abby Korzekwinski grabbed six rebounds. 
 
Cortland led 15-13 after one quarter and by as many as nine points at 22-13 in the second quarter, but the hosts came back and took a 28-26 halftime lead. Neither team led by more than three points the entire second half until Cortland created the final margin in the final seconds. 
 
The game was tied five times in the fourth quarter. Longford's bucket with about two minutes left gave Cortland a 50-48 lead, but Fitzgerald responded with a 3-point play on the next trip down the floor to put the Hawks up by one. New Paltz had the ball with under a minute remaining and still up by one when Morano got a steal and drove downcourt. She missed a layup but got the offensive rebound and was fouled with 45 seconds left. She made both free throws to put Cortland on top, 52-51. 
 
New Paltz missed a 3-pointer and Morano grabbed a rebound with about 25 seconds left. After a timeout, Longford was fouled and made her first free throw. She missed the second, but Cortland maintained possession when the ball went out of bounds. However, after a foul the Red Dragons missed two free throws with 17 seconds left and committed a foul on the rebound. 
 
Fitzgerald hit the second of two foul shots with 16 seconds remaining to cut Cortland's lead to one. Longford was fouled and sank two free throws with 14 seconds left to push the Red Dragon lead to five. New Paltz called timeout and advanced the ball to halfcourt, and the Hawks missed a 3-pointer with less than 10 seconds left. Morano secured the rebound and hit two foul shots with five ticks remaining to seal the win and reach the 1,000-point milestone. 
 
Cortland finished the game shooting 37 percent overall but only 13 percent (2-of-16) from 3-point range. New Paltz ended with similar numbers, hitting 34 percent overall and 19 percent (3-of-16) from the arc.