OSWEGO, N.Y. – Evelyn Josbena's free throw with 24 seconds remaining gave Oswego the lead and the Lakers held on to defeat Cortland, 38-35, in the SUNYAC quarterfinals. Oswego (18-8), the tournament's third seed, will face second-seeded Geneseo in the semifinals Friday at 6 p.m. at New Paltz. Cortland, the sixth seed, finishes the season 11-14 and had their streak of 17 straight SUNYAC semifinal appearances snapped.
Junior Grace Williamson (Olean) led Cortland with 12 points and 10 rebounds and was the lone double-figure scorer for either team. Sophomore Lindsey Minor (Wheatley Heights/St. John the Baptist) scored six points, freshman Caysea Cohen (Stony Brook/Ward Melville) totaled six steals and five points and freshman Shannon White (West Islip/St. Anthony's) had five steals.
Meagan Stover and Jenn Robbins led Oswego with seven points each. Josbena finished with 12 rebounds, six points and four blocked shots, including a block of a potential tying three-pointer in the final seconds. Stover grabbed 10 rebounds.
Both teams struggled putting the ball in the basket. Cortland shot only 20 percent from the field and 14 percent (3-of-22) from three-point range. Oswego hit only 25 percent of its shots and 19 percent (5-of-26) from the three-point line. The Lakers made 5-of-10 treys in the game's first 10 minutes before missing their final 16 attempts. Oswego also turned the ball over 25 times compared to Cortland's 11 giveaways.
Cortland trailed 31-26 with 3:57 left but used two Williamson free throws and an Erin Wolstenholme (Oneonta) steal and layup to pull within one with 3:13 left. The Red Dragons still trailed by one after a Megan Touhey (Maine/Maine-Endwell) jumper with 2:21 left. Stover answered with a jumper at the 2:01 mark to put Oswego up by three.
White hit the first of two free throws with 1:37 left and, after an Oswego miss, Williamson hit the tying layup with 53 seconds left and was fouled. She missed the ensuing free throw, but White's steal gave Cortland the ball back with 44 seconds left.
Williamson missed a jumper in the paint with 27 seconds left and Josbena was fouled on the rebound. She made the front end of a 1-and-1 to give Oswego the lead but missed the second shot. With the clock winding down, Oswego forced a loose ball but fouled Touhey in the ensuing battle for the ball with nine seconds left. Touhey, however, missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Kassie Kleine grabbed the rebound, was fouled and hit two foul shots with seven seconds left. Josbena's block on Brittany Rando's (Owego/Owego Free Academy) three-pointer from the left corner preserved the Oswego victory.