CORTLAND, N.Y. – Bianca Smiley (Amherst/Sweet Home) scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds and Staci McElroy (Saratoga Springs) added 16 points and seven rebounds as Buffalo State defeated Cortland, 73-67, in the regular-season finale for both teams.

Buffalo State (23-2, 16-2 SUNYAC) is the league regular-season champion and will host eighth-seeded Fredonia in the league quarterfinals Tuesday at 7 p.m. Cortland (15-10, 10-8 SUNYAC) finished fifth and will play at fourth-seeded Geneseo Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Senior Brittany Cohen (Fayetteville/Jamesville-DeWitt) led Cortland with 26 points, four assists and four steals. She hit 9-of-17 shots from the floor. Senior Micki Volpini (Newfield) amassed 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds, while senior Molly Byrne (Syracuse/Bishop Ludden) and sophomore Megan Touhey (Maine/Maine-Endwell) scored eight points each.

Following the game, Cortland honored its five seniors – Cohen, Volpini, Byrne, Megan Maycumber (Jamesville/Jamesville-DeWitt) and Ally Biordi (Beacon) – playing in their final regular-season home game.

For the Bengals, Smiley made 6-of-10 shots from the field and 7-of-10 free throws and McElroy was 5-of-8 from the floor and 6-of-6 from the line. Hillary Kollar (Johnstown) scored 13 points and Barb Kiliszek (Depew/Lancaster) tallied 11 points. Kala Crawford (Middle Falls/Saratoga Springs) led the team with seven assists.

Cortland trailed by eight points at halftime and by 11 with 14:51 remaining. The Red Dragons rallied within three at 45-42 on a Touhey layup with 10:47 left and got within two on a pair of Katrina Davenport (Honeoye) free throws at the 8:18 mark. Cortland got the ball back with a chance to take the lead, but a Byrne three-point attempt went in-and-out.

Buffalo State responded by scoring the next nine points, the last four by McElroy, and led 60-49 with 5:29 left. The lead grew to 13 with 2:34 left before Cortland mounted one last rally. The Red Dragons scored nine consecutive points, five by Cohen, and cut Buffalo State's lead to 68-64 with 50 seconds left.

Kiliszek made 1-of-2 foul shots for the Bengals and Volpini made 1-of-2 free throws with 33 seconds remaining to keep the margin at four. Cortland was still within four on Cohen's layup with 20 seconds left, but Kiliszek hit two charity tosses and Cortland missed two shots on its final possession.