Jan 29, 2011
CORTLAND, N.Y. – Juniors Molly Byrne (Syracuse/Bishop Ludden) and Brittany Cohen (Fayetteville/Jamesville-DeWitt) scored 19 points apiece and senior Jennifer Patten (Bainbridge/Bainbridge-Guilford) added 18 points as Cortland won at home over Buffalo State, 80-59, in a SUNYAC game.
Byrne made 5-of-7 three-pointers and set a new career high in scoring. She also led the Red Dragons (13-4, 8-3 SUNYAC) with nine rebounds, matching her career best. Cohen also totaled five assists and five rebounds, while Patten finished with seven rebounds and five assists.
Also for the Red Dragons, junior Micki Volpini (Newfield) scored 10 points and junior Megan Maycumber (Syracuse/Jamesville-DeWitt) grabbed seven rebounds and blocked a career-best five shots.
Staci McElroy (Saratoga Springs) led Buffalo State (10-7, 5-6 SUNYAC) with 20 points. Sarah Thompson (Delmar/Bethlehem) scored 12 points and led the team with eight rebounds.
The Bengals were within six at 34-28 after two Thompson foul shots with 2:18 left in the first half. Patten's three-pointer at the 1:59 mark and Maycumber's three-point play with 1:19 left gave Cortland a 12-point lead, and the Red Dragons led by 11 at halftime.
Buffalo State drew within 10 points twice in the second half, the last at 52-42 with 13:29 left. Cortland, however, slowly built its lead and was up by 21 on a Jen Polan (Westhampton Beach) three-pointer with 8:45 remaining. The lead remained in the low 20's the rest of the game.
Cortland shot 10-of-26 from behind the three-point arc. Conversely, Buffalo State was only 3-of-17 from three-point range and just 30 percent from the field overall.
Cortland will host New Paltz on Tuesday at 6 p.m.