NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – Paige Niemeyer made two free throws to tie the game with 3.8 seconds left in regulation and New Paltz outscored Cortland, 12-6, in overtime as the Hawks defeated the Red Dragons, 74-68, in a battle of the top two teams in the SUNYAC women's basketball standings.

 

With the victory, New Paltz (20-3, 15-1 SUNYAC) is guaranteed at least a share of the SUNYAC regular-season title, and the Hawks have clinched the top seed for next week's conference tournament and will host the semifinals and finals Feb. 28-29.

 

Cortland (19-4, 13-3 SUNYAC) is in second place in the league with two games remaining and will be either the second or third seed in next week's playoffs depending on the outcome of home games this weekend versus Brockport and Geneseo. The second seed earns a bye into the conference semifinals and the third seed will host a quarterfinal game next Tuesday.

Beth Bonin (Cicero/Cicero-North Syracuse) led Cortland with 19 points and three steals and also pulled down six rebounds. Nyia Longford (Medford/Longwood) posted totals of 17 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high four assists, and Sarah Tully (East Aurora) scored 13 points, hauled in nine rebounds and dished out three assists. Shannon McGuire (West Babylon) shared the team lead with four assists and also totaled seven points and five rebounds.

 

Marion Dietz led New Paltz with 27 points, including 13-of-14 free throw shooting, and she added six rebounds and three steals. Maddie Van Pelt poured in 20 points and tallied five rebounds and five steals. Olivia Badura pitched in with 10 points and four assists and Philesha Teape scored eight points and led the Hawks with 10 rebounds.

 

Cortland shot 43 percent from the field (26-for-60) compared to 32 percent for New Paltz (21-for-66), and was 8-for-24 from 3-point range compared to 4-for-20 for the Hawks. New Paltz, however, finished the game 28-for-32 from the foul line while Cortland was 8-for-11.

 

Cortland led 45-37 on a Casey Travers (Manorville/Eastport-South Manor) 3-pointer with 3:05 left in the third quarter. New Paltz finished the quarter on a 7-0 run, capped by a Van Pelt trey, and trailed by just one entering the fourth.

 

Neither team held more than a 3-point lead in the fourth. Cortland went up 60-57 on a McGuire 3-pointer with 1:18 left, but Dietz converted a traditional 3-point play at about the one-minute mark to tie the game. Tully's driving layup put Cortland back ahead with 42 seconds left, and Bonin forced a jump ball to give the ball back to the Red Dragons with 33.7 seconds remaining.

 

Cortland, however, missed two free throws and New Paltz called timeout with 20.6 seconds left. The Hawks missed a layup with about 15 seconds left but retained possession when the ball went out of bounds. The hosts then missed a 3-pointer and a putback in the closing seconds, but Niemeyer was fouled after the second miss and hit the tying free throws. Bonin's 3-pointer missed the mark at the buzzer and the game went to overtime.

 

Cortland took the lead on Bonin's 3-pointer with 3:53 left in overtime, and the Red Dragons later grabbed their final lead at 66-65 on a Tully foul shot with 1:52 left. Dietz's 3-point play with 1:38 left put the Hawks ahead by two, and she added two free throws with 51.4 seconds left to extend the margin to four. Cortland was within three after two Bonin foul shots with 21.9 seconds remaining. but Badura sealed the win with two charity tosses with 18.3 seconds on the clock.