CORTLAND, N.Y. – SUNYAC leader Oneonta scored the game's final 12 points and defeated host Cortland, 67-62, in a league matchup. Oneonta is now 6-0 in the SUNYAC and 8-4 overall, while Cortland slips to 3-4 in the league and 8-6 overall.
Senior Madison Slagle (Rome/Rome Catholic) led Oneonta with 18 points and three steals. Sophomore Alyshia Crawford (Oxford/Oxford Academy) scored 14 points off the bench and senior Samantha Szkotak (New York Mills) finished with eight points and nine rebounds. Sophomore Grace Schilling (Northport) also tallied eight points and led the Red Dragons with five assists and junior Gabi Regan (Troy/Columbia) added eight points and six rebounds.
Freshman Brittany Rando (Owego/Owego Free Academy) led Cortland with 13 points, matching her career high, in 21 minutes off the bench. She hit 3-of-6 three-pointers. Senior Brittany Cohen (Fayetteville/Jamesville-DeWitt) recorded 12 points and six assists and sophomore Megan Touhey (Maine/Maine-Endwell) scored 11 points. Senior Ally Biordi (Beacon) tallied eight points, seven rebounds and four assists and senior Molly Byrne (Syracuse/Bishop Ludden) chipped in with eight points, six rebounds and five assists.
Oneonta took a 15-1 lead less than six minutes into the game. Cortland closed the gap to five with 7:26 left in the half, but Oneonta used a 14-4 run to take its largest lead at 35-20 with 2:03 left. Cortland drew within nine at halftime at 35-26 and opened the second half on a 14-4 run, capped by three-pointers from Byrne and Cohen, to take a 41-40 lead with 15:11 remaining.
Neither team led by more than four points for the next eight minutes. Touhey's three-pointer with 7:11 left broke a 52-52 tie and she hit another trey with 6:28 left to put Cortland up six. Cortland's largest lead was 62-55 after back-to-back baskets by freshman Erin Wolstenholme (Oneonta), the latter with 4:49 left.
Crawford sank two free throws with 4:09 left and Slagle hit a layup with 3:31 remaining to cut Cortland's lead to three. An offensive rebound by Kristin Pappalardo (Mahopac/Lakeland) with 2:48 left led to two Slagle free throws at the 2:33 mark and Oneonta trailed by just one.
Cortland missed the front end of a 1-and-1 on its next possession, then committed a foul that resulted in two Crawford free throws and a 63-62 Oneonta lead. After the teams traded possessions, a Cortland three-pointer went in-and-out with 1:22 left. Cortland got the rebound, but turned the ball over with 1:02 remaining. Schilling's layup with 46 seconds left extended the Oneonta lead to three at 65-62.
Cortland missed two shots on its next possession. Oneonta missed a foul shot with 15 seconds left, but kept possession after the ball went out of bounds off Cortland. Pappalardo closed the scoring with two foul shots with 12 seconds left.
Cortland will host New Paltz Saturday at 2 p.m.