CORTLAND, N.Y. – Cortland exploded to a 23-point halftime lead and held off a second-half Bowdoin comeback that saw the margin close to one point in the final minute and the Red Dragons defeated the visiting nationally 25th-ranked Polar Bears, 70-66. 
 
The game was the first ever between the programs. Cortland improved to 14-2 with the victory. Bowdoin, the NCAA Division III runner-up in 2018 and 2019 and a 20-time NCAA participant, fell to 11-6 with the loss. 
 
Emily Morano (Olyphant, PA/Mid Valley) led Cortland with 29 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. The 29 points are her Cortland career high and the 11 boards match her Red Dragon career high. She finished 7-of-12 from 3-point range, including 5-of-8 in the first half, and ended the game 6-for-6 from the foul line. 
 
Maggie Malone (Cornwall) scored 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting and Nyia Longford (Medford/Longwood) finished with 11 points, five rebounds and three assists. Julia Siler (Seaford) shared the team lead with four assists, Casey Travers (Manorville/Eastport-South Manor) scored nine points, and Sarah Tully (East Aurora) ended with six points and eight rebounds. 
 
Sydney Jones, Bowdoin's leading scorer entering the game at 14.7 points per contest, scored all of her team-high 20 points in the second half after not attempting a shot in eight minutes during the first half. She was 7-of-11 from the field and 5-for-5 from the line, and she also registered five rebounds and three assists. Sela Kay made four 3-pointers and ended with 16 points, Annie Boasberg finished with nine points, and Callie Godfrey led the Polar Bears with nine rebounds.  
 
Cortland led 21-14 after one quarter and outscored the guests by a 23-7 margin in the second quarter to take a 44-21 halftime lead. The Red Dragons finished the half shooting 50 percent overall and 59 percent (10-of-17) from 3-point range. 
 
Cortland's lead briefly grew to 25 points twice in the first 1:08 of the third quarter, but from that point it was mainly Bowdoin controlling the action. The Polar Bears scored 24 of the quarter's final 31 points to close within eight points, 56-48, entering the fourth. Jones scored 18 points during that quarter to help fuel the comeback. 
 
Bowdoin trailed by nine with 5:07 left following a Malone layup, but Boasberg hit a trey at the 4:34 mark and Kay made a layup with 4:11 left and the Cortland lead was down to four. Travers hit a free throw with 3:36 left, but Kay nailed a 3-pointer with 3:21 left and Bowdoin trailed 64-62. 
 
The only scoring over the next 1:37 was a Tully foul shot with 2:52 left and a Tully layup off a Longford pass with 1:44 remaining to give Cortland a 67-62 lead. Bowdoin, however, answered with a Jones layup at the 1:31 mark and a Godfrey layup with 46.6 seconds remaining to bring the Polar Bears to within 67-66. 
 
Godfrey forced a jump ball with 17.2 seconds left to give Bowdoin the ball back with a chance to take the lead. Bowdoin missed on a driving shot with less than seven seconds remaining. The Polar Bears grabbed the offensive rebound, but Travers was able to force a jump ball call before another shot could be taken to give Cortland the ball with 2.6 seconds left. 
 
Tully made one free throw with 2.2 seconds left to push the lead to two. Bowdoin called timeout and advanced the ball to the frontcourt, but after the inbounds a Polar Bear player dribbled the ball off her foot with 0.8 seconds left. Morano was fouled with 0.2 seconds left and made two free throws for the final margin. 
 
Cortland finished the game shooting 42 percent from the field – 50 percent in the first half and 29 percent in the second. Bowdoin, conversely, shot 50 percent in the second half and 31 percent in the first to finish at 41 percent. The Red Dragons made 2-of-8 treys in the second half to end at 48 percent (12-of-25) from the arc. 
 
Cortland resumes SUNYAC play Friday with a 5:30 p.m. game at New Paltz. Cortland currently leads the SUNYAC with a 9-0 mark and New Paltz is a half game back at 8-0.