Feb 08, 2011
CORTLAND, N.Y. - All five Cortland starters scored in double figures, led by Molly Byrne's (Syracuse/Bishop Ludden) career-high 20 points, as the Red Dragons defeated New Paltz, 85-51, in a SUNYAC matchup. The win pushes the Red Dragons (15-4, 10-3 SUNYAC) past the Hawks (12-9, 10-4 SUNYAC) into second place in the SUNYAC standings.
Cortland won despite junior Brittany Cohen (Fayetteville/Jamesville-DeWitt), the team's leader in both scoring and assists, missing the game due to illness. Senior Jen Polan (Westhampton Beach), who made her first start of the season in place of Cohen, scored 16 points and tied her career high with eight assists. Senior Jennifer Patten (Bainbridge/Bainbridge-Guilford) added 14 points, junior Micki Volpini (Newfield) scored 11 and junior Megan Maycumber (Syracuse/Jamesville-DeWitt) added 10 points.
Volpini also finished with seven steals, tying her career high. Byrne dished out four assists and junior Caryn Crary (Skaneateles) finished with six rebounds and five steals, matching her career best in both categories.
Alex McCullough (Delmar/Bethlehem) was the lone double-figure scorer for New Paltz with 10 points. Kahsyrah Bryant (North Babylon), Stefanie Klapper (Roslyn) and Elizabeth Hauser (East Williston/Sacred Heart Academy) led the team with seven rebounds each, all off the bench, and Caitlin Irwin (Brooklyn/Bishop Kearney) dished out four assists.
Cortland jumped out to a 13-0 lead 4:01 into the game, sparked by five points from Byrne. The Hawks closed to within five points twice, the latter at 27-22 with 8:25 remaining, but Byrne scored four straight points to extend the lead to nine. The Red Dragons used a 9-2 run over the final 3:02 of the half to take a 49-31 halftime lead.
The Red Dragons led by at least 20 points most of the second half and by 30 or more points the final 5:07. Cortland finished the game shooting 50 percent from the field while holding New Paltz to just 24 percent accuracy, including only 18 percent (6-of-33) in the second half. Cortland also recorded 23 steals as part of New Paltz's 29 turnovers and registered assists on 23 of their 27 field goals.
Cortland will play at Potsdam on Friday, Feb. 11, at 6 p.m. The game will be televised live, along with the Cortland-Potsdam men's game at 8 p.m., on Time Warner Cable Sports in Central New York.