CORTLAND, N.Y. – Cortland rallied from a 14-point second-half deficit, tying the game on two occasions, but Oneonta went on a crucial 10-0 run to pull away for a 78-70 victory in a SUNYAC matchup. Cortland is now 17-5 overall and 12-4 in league play, while the visiting Red Dragons improve to 18-6 overall and 12-5 in the conference.
Oneonta swept the regular-season series versus Cortland for the first time since the 2002-03 season. Cortland suffered its first home loss of the year and is now 103-7 in SUNYAC regular-season home games since Jeannette Mosher started coaching the Red Dragons in 1998.
Senior Rebecca Bucci (Marlboro/Our Lady of Lourdes) led Oneonta with 15 points and four assists. She also grabbed six rebounds and hit 3-of-6 three-pointers. Sophomore Kate Wilverding (Manalapan, NJ/St. John Vianney) scored 11 points, junior Samantha Szkotak (New York Mills) finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds and freshman Grace Schilling (Northport) scored 10 points.
Cortland junior Brittany Cohen (Fayetteville/Jamesville-DeWitt) scored all of her game-high 22 points in the second half. She made 8-of-8 free throws and led the Red Dragons with seven assists and three steals. Senior Jennifer Patten (Bainbridge/Bainbridge-Guilford) scored 13 points and junior Mary Bruns (Brooklyn/Bishop Ford) finished with a season-high 11 points. Junior Caryn Crary (Skaneateles) led Cortland with a career-high 10 rebounds and Bruns finished with eight boards.
Three straight Wilverding treys in the opening five minutes turned a 6-4 Cortland lead into a 13-6 Oneonta advantage. Oneonta led 34-20 with 2:43 left in the half and took a 37-27 lead into halftime. The lead grew back to 14 at 44-30 less than two minutes into the second half before Cortland used an 8-0 spurt to close within six.
The visitors increased their margin to nine, 50-41, with 13:56 to go. However, Cohen scored seven straight points to start a 9-0 run that was capped by junior Micki Volpini (Newfield) hitting a pair of foul shots that tied the game at 50-50 with 11:56 left.
Cortland trailed 57-56 with 8:28 left, but Oneonta held the hosts scoreless for more than five minutes. Schilling scored four points during the ensuing 10-0 run that put Oneonta up by 11 with less than four minutes left. Cortland got back to within six points three times, but Oneonta made its last eight free throws to clinch the win. Oneonta finished the game 19-of-20 from the charity stripe, 14-of-15 in the second half.