CORTLAND, NY – Tied at 31 at the half, it was the third quarter that did the Hartwick women's basketball team in on Tuesday night in SUNY Cortland's Corey Gym, as the hosts outscored the Hawks 31-8 in those ten minutes en route to a 79-56 win. The loss drops 'Wick to 0-2 on the season, while the Red Dragons win their season opener, getting some revenge on Hartwick for last year's season-opening loss in the process.
Hartwick started out hot, scoring the game's first nine points in just 2:33 on buckets from four different players. They more or less maintained that lead for awhile, leading 14-6 with 2:36 to go after Maggie Kirby (Selkirk, NY/Bethlehem) made a pair of free throws. Cortland narrowed the gap after that, scoring six points in under a minute (four by Sarah Tully) to cut the Hartwick lead to two, although a Kirby three with 1:03 on the clock made the score 17-12 after one.
The Hawks again steadily lengthened out their lead in the second, bumping it up to double digits at 28-18 on Mary Schoenherr's (Unionville, CT/Farmington) lay-up just over the halfway point. The Red Dragons again began to make their way back, cutting it to four before Molly Kirby (Selkirk, NY/Bethlehem) drained a three with 2:39 to go, and then scored the next seven points to bring both teams into the locker room tied at 31. Casey Travers had the last bucket of the quarter, a three-pointer with 1:06 on the clock.
Cortland grabbed their first lead of the night just 13 seconds into the second half on a Beth Bonin old-fashioned three-point play, the first of her 15 second-half points. Shannon McGuire had a lay-up next, but then Schoenherr fired back with her own three-point play 55 seconds in. From there, the Red Dragons dominated the quarter, scoring the next 19 points to take a commanding 55-34 lead with 2:41 to go. Nyia Longford had the first eight of those 19, and Bonin sank two threes in the latter half of the run. Cortland lengthened their lead out to 25 before settling on a 62-39 advantage after 30 minutes. Hartwick cut the lead to 18 a couple times in the fourth, but the Red Dragons built their lead back up to 23 by the end of the game.
Schoenherr (5-of-11) and Maggie Kirby (4-of-8) tied for the team-high of 13 points. Schoenherr just missed a double-double, gathering up nine rebounds to lead all players. Giuliana Pritchard (Amsterdam, NY/Amsterdam) was also in double digits, putting in 11 points and snatching seven rebounds.
Cortland's Bonin ended up with the game-high in points, 23 on 9-of-16 from the field, and also added in four rebounds, assists, and steals apiece. Tully and McGuire each had 14 points; Tully had seven rebounds as well, while McGuire had five assists. Longford was the only other player in double digits, at 10 points. She also had five rebounds.
Cortland outshot Hartwick 46.3% to 35.2%, and had 13 more shot attempts as well. They were also 9-of-24 (37.5%) from three, compared to the visitors' 4-of-19 (21.1%). The biggest difference came in the turnover battle, which the Red Dragons won 21 to 13, and converted into a 26-10 lead in points off of turnovers. Cortland also had a nice advantage in paint points, at 34-22.
The Hawks continue their search for a win this weekend, when they travel to the Big Apple for the NYU Tournament, played at Hunter College. Hartwick plays Stevens on Saturday, November 16 at 7 p.m., then follows that up with a game against Sarah Lawrence on Sunday at 1 p.m.
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