ONEONTA, N.Y.—Senior Rebecca Bucci (Marlboro, Our Lady of Lourdes) had a game high 16 points and nine rebounds in leading SUNY Oneonta to a 68-53 win over Plattsburgh in the SUNYAC tournament quarterfinals. The win for the Red Dragons was its 20th of the season as they sit at 20-6.

The win tonight was also head coach Daphne Thompson's 300th of her collegiate head coaching career. Thompson is currently in her fourth season with Oneonta and she has led the program to 20 wins for a third time. She spent 15 years as the head coach at Hartwick before taking the job at Oneonta. She is now 300-192 overall.

The visitors would not go away easily tonight as the game looked in control of the hosts at many times throughout the game. It wasn't until Oneonta ran off eight unanswered points to put the game away with just over two minutes remaining in the game. The nail in the coffin was a three-point basket by Bucci at the 2:08 mark that gave the Red Dragons a 64-50 lead.

Joining Bucci in double figures tonight was freshman Kristin Pappalardo (Mahopac, Lakeland) and junior Samantha Szkotak (New York Mills, New York Mills) who scored 13 points and 12 points respectively.

Junior Kerri Salisbury, who scored 12 points, led the Cardinals. Plattsburgh's season ends with an overall record of 8-17.

Plattsburgh used a balanced attack to take an early 9-4 lead through the first eight minutes of the contest.

Oneonta scored 13 unanswered points during the next four minutes to take a 17-9 lead. Pappalardo capped the run with a jumper at 8:17.

Plattsburgh came back to cut the lead to four points before Oneonta built its lead back to eight points at 26-18 with just over four minutes to go.

A layup by Lindsey Larivee at 1:02 cut Oneonta's lead to 30-28, but a jumper by senior Mary Kate O'Connell (Altamont, Guilderland) with 11 seconds gave the Red Dragons a 32-28 lead that they would carry into halftime.

Oneonta will now play this Friday evening at 6:00 p.m. against New Paltz, who defeated Oswego tonight in its quarterfinal, 69-54. The game will be at Geneseo, who held on to the top seed by blowing out Brockport tonight, 74-33. Geneseo will play Cortland at 8:00 p.m. in the second semifinal game.

The championship game will be Saturday at 4:00 p.m. at Geneseo.

Newspaper Box Score
ONEONTA STATE 68, PLATTSBURGH STATE 53

PLATTSBURGH STATE (8-17/5-13)
SALISBURY, Kerri 4-10 0-0 12; CAMPBELL, Nora 4-9 0-0 8; CASSIDY, Catherine 2-7 2-2 7; NUCARO, Dana 2-3 2-2 7; REIFINGER, Brooke 3-10 0-0 6; AMARANDO, Taylor 2-9 0-0 4; McCOY, Stephanie 1-3 2-2 4; LARIVEE, Lindsey 1-3 1-2 3; PAYNE, Kathleen 1-7 0-0 2. Totals 20-61 7-8 53.

ONEONTA STATE (20-6/13-5)
BUCCI, Rebecca 6-10 1-1 16; PAPPALARDO, Kristin 5-9 2-2 13; SZKOTAK, Samantha 5-11 2-4 12; PUFFER, Erika 3-5 2-3 8; REGAN, Gabi 3-4 0-0 7; O'CONNELL, Mary Kate 3-4 0-0 6; SLAGLE, Madison 1-6 0-0 2; SCHILLING, Grace 1-2 0-0 2; MULLIGAN, Kelly 0-0 2-2 2; WELYTOK, Ashley 0-0 0-0 0; WILVERDING, Kate 0-1 0-2 0. Totals 27-52 9-14 68.

3-point goals--Plattsburgh State 6-20 (SALISBURY, Kerri 4-5; CASSIDY, Catherine 1-2; NUCARO, Dana 1-2; PAYNE, Kathleen 0-4; REIFINGER, Brooke 0-5; CAMPBELL, Nora 0-2), Oneonta State 5-12 (BUCCI, Rebecca 3-6; REGAN, Gabi 1-1; PAPPALARDO, Kristin 1-1; SLAGLE, Madison 0-2; WILVERDING, Kate 0-1; SZKOTAK, Samantha 0-1).

Fouled out--Plattsburgh State-None, Oneonta State-None. Rebounds--Plattsburgh State 35 (CAMPBELL, Nora 6; CASSIDY, Catherine 6), Oneonta State 34 (BUCCI, Rebecca 9).

Assists—Plattsburgh State 10 (REIFINGER, Brooke 2; PAYNE, Kathleen 2; CAMPBELL, Nora 2; CASSIDY, Catherine 2), Oneonta State 20 (BUCCI, Rebecca 7).

Total fouls—Plattsburgh State 15, Oneonta State 12.

Technical fouls--Plattsburgh State-None, Oneonta State-None.

A-91