GENESEO, N.Y. – SUNY Geneseo senior forward Shannon McGinnis scored 14 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for her 17th double-double of the season to lead the top-seeded Knights to a 61-54 win over No. 2 Cortland in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Championship game, Saturday in Schrader Gym.

McGinnis was named the SUNYAC Tournament MVP while junior forward Allison McKenna was named to the All-Tournament Team. With the win, Geneseo receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament. The Knights' last trip to the tournament saw the team defeat DeSales in the first round, 62-51, before falling to Babson in the Round of 32, 65-53.

Geneseo (23-4) wins its first SUNYAC Championship since the 2010-11 season and now own a 5-5 record in the finals. In their fourth finals appearance in the last five years, the Knights defeated the Red Dragons in the first ever meeting between the two teams in the title game. The win was also the team's 17th-straight, the second longest winning streak in school history (1992-93).

"I'm extremely happy for and even more proud of this group of young ladies. All year they've taken their opponents best shots, responded and did so again today in the most critical game of the year," said head coach Scott Hemer. "They deserved and earned this opportunity and they ultimately reached their main goal that was set at the beginning of the season."

Junior guard Dana Cohan totaled 14 points while sophomore guard Kara Houppert added 10 points and McKenna had nine points and five rebounds in the win.

At 17:18, Cohan made a shot from beyond the arc to give the hosts and early 8-2 lead. After a Cortland lay-up made it 12-8, Houppert hit a shot from long range to give the Knights a 15-8 edge at 13:42.

Red Dragons sophomore forward Danielle Levine made two free throws to cut the deficit to four, 18-14, but three pointers by Cohan and McGinnis, respectively, put Geneseo up 24-14 with 9:34 on the clock.

At the 5:29 mark, Houppert put back a missed lay-up to put the advantage at 10, 28-18. In the team's next possession, Houppert capitalized from long range to give the Knights their largest lead of the half, 31-18. Cortland scored four points with under a minute to play but it was Geneseo taking a 33-24 lead into the break.

After two-straight buckets by the Red Dragons to open the second half, McGinnis responded with a three-pointer to make it a 36-28 game at 17:33. Ahead 42-32 with 12:31 on the clock, Cortland went on an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to two, 42-40, at 9:15. The run was capped by a Levine three-pointer.

At 7:11, Geneseo held a slim 44-42 lead but back-to-back shots from beyond the arc by sophomore guard Bridgit Ryan made it 50-42 with 6:27 remaining in the game.

Another Houppert bucket made it 52-42 with 3:44 to go but the Red Dragons responded by sinking two threes and two free-throws to cut the lead to two, 52-50, at 2:01. With 1:08 on the clock, McKenna made a jumper from just inside the arc to give the hosts a four-point edge.

With 38 seconds remaining, Cortland sophomore guard Cassiday Chapko hit a three to make it 55-53, but the Knights made their free-throws down the stretch to secure the conference championship.

The NCAA Women's Basketball Selection Show will air live Monday at 2:30 p.m.

2015 SUNYAC All-Tournament Team

Lyteshia Price - Oneonta
Courtney Irby - New Paltz
Cassidy Chapko - Cortland
Brittany Dumas - Cortland
Allison McKenna – Geneseo

MVP – Shannon McGinnis