BROCKPORT, N.Y. – Senior Olivia Suhr displayed her All-State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) ability for The College at Brockport Women's Basketball team as she flirted with a triple double leading the Golden Eagles to a conference victory over Buffalo State 75-65 Tuesday evening in the Jim and John Vlogianitis Gymnasium.
Brockport (5-3 Overall, 1-0 SUNYAC) seized the opportunity when it presented itself with 28 points from the free throw line, 11 more than the Bengals were able to convert. The Golden Eagles also shot a strong 44-percent from the field, making 22-of-50 shots attempted.
The Green and Gold jumped out to an early lead on a Faith Welch layup and appeared on its way to an easy victory, however as most conference contests go – the game was far from over as the Bengals closed the gap to a single point midway through the third quarter.
As the Bengals closed the gap, Brockport's head coach Corinne Jones made a gutsy call to completely swap out the starting five. Alyssa Rusinko, Megan Anagnostopulos, Jenna Lividini, Becky Rossier and Erin Cunningham subbed into the action as Brockport held a four point lead. A minute later Buffalo nailed a three-pointer to bring the score to 37-36 Brockport.
Coach Jones had faith in the reserves and continued to rest the starters despite the slim margin for error. Rossier responded immediately with a layup on a feed from Cunningham before Anagnostopulos stepped in the Bengals passing lane to intercept the ball, race down the court for the fastbreak lay-in to grow the lead to 41-36.
Buffalo State called a timeout, in which Brockport responded by sending three of its leading scorers back in – Suhr, Welch and Hannah Rehbaum. Suhr and Welch combined to score the nine remaining points of the third quarter for Brockport with Welch assisting on two of Suhr's baskets and Suhr chipping in a nice pass on a fastbreak score for Welch.
Brockport scored 25 points in the final quarter of play to close out the action and secure coach Jones first career SUNYAC victory in her first career attempt. Suhr led all scorers with 23 points while also tallying 13 rebounds to go along with eight blocked shots. Suhr was a force to be reckoned with in the paint as she stifled multiple Bengal possessions with emphatic rejections in the paint.
Hannah Spencer made an impressive 12-of-12 free throws to finish with the second highest point total of 16 points. Welch and Rehbaum also topped double digits in points with 14 and 10 respectively.
Brockport remains home for another SUNYAC matchup on Friday against New Paltz with the action scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. Be sure to stay up to date on all your Golden Eagle scores and awards by following @BportAthletics on Twitter and by liking "Brockport Golden Eagles" Facebook page.