OSWEGO, NY—Junior guard Staci McElroy (Saratoga Springs/Saratoga Springs) scored 19 points and became the 13th player in Buffalo State (22-2/15-2) history to tally 1,000 career points and the Bengals sewed up the No. 1 seed in the SUNYAC playoffs with a 71-61 win over Oswego (11-13/6-11) tonight.
The Bengals' win, combined with New Paltz's home overtime victory over Oneonta this evening, clinched the top spot for Buffalo State.
McElroy, who entered the night 15 points shy of the milestone, came out firing, netting 17 points in the first half. She also had a game-high 10 rebounds. Bianca Smiley (Amherst/Sweet Home) added 14 points, and Barb Kiliszek (Depew/Lancaster) had 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Olivia Luciani (Syracuse/E. Syracuse Minoa) chipped in 10 points and seven rebounds.
The Bengals assembled a 12-2 run late in the opening half, and led 37-27 at the intermission. Oswego closed the deficit to six on a couple of occasions in the second half, but could not come any closer.
Buffalo State shot 42-percent from the field, while Oswego connecting on just 33-percent of its field-goal attempts. The Bengals also won the battle of the boards, outrebounding the Lakers, 43-35.
Buffalo State will conclude its regular season tomorrow at 2 p.m. at Cortland. The Bengals will then open the conference playoffs with a home quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday evening. The opponent and time of that contest are still to be determined.