PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. - SUNY Geneseo junior forward Shannon McGinnis totaled 19 points and 15 rebounds for her ninth double-double of the season to lead the third-seeded Knights (21-6) to the 75-58 victory over second-seeded Buffalo State in the semifinals of the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Women's Basketball Tournament, Friday.

Geneseo advances to play top-seeded Plattsburgh, which defeated Cortland, 69-61 in the night's other semifinal, in Saturday's championship game at 4:00 p.m. The winner will with the SUNYAC Championship and earn an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Tournament.  

Sophomore center Allison McKenna scored 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting and 6-of-6 free throw attempts, while sophomore Dana Cohan added 13 points and first-year forward Bridgit Ryan was credited with 12 points in the victory.

"Everyone involved with our program should be very proud of this group," said head coach Scott Hemer. "This team was supposed to be too young to make it this far and here they are. They've really grown and it has been a lot of fun to watch."

Geneseo built a 35-30 lead after the first 20 minutes of play. Tied 12-12 at 14:06, the Knights would use a 13-5 run over the next seven minutes to take a 25-17 lead with 7:14 on the clock. The Bengals would would bounce back to tie the game 27-27 by the 3:47 mark, but a jumper by Cohen with 31 seconds on the clock would finish off an 8-3 Knights' run for the five-point lead.

The Knights came out firing in the second half with a 9-0 run capped by a McKenna layup to make it a 14-point lead, 44-30 at 14:28. Buffalo State pulled to within eight, 49-41, with 10:54 to play in regulation, but Geneseo would start to pull away down the stretch.

A McKenna jumper punctuated a 10-3 Knights run to make it a 59-44 lead at 7:52, before a pair of Cohan free throws moved Geneseo a 63-46 lead with 4:55 remaining. The Knights' lead would balloon to as many as 21 in the final two minutes as Geneseo earned its second double-digit victory over Buffalo State in the last two weeks. The Knights defeated the host Bengals, 81-67, on Jan. 15.

Geneseo finished the game with a 50-34 advantage in rebounding, while limiting Buffalo State to 30.7 shooting (including 27.8 percent in the second half) for the game. 

The Knights move on to their second-straight and eighth overall SUNYAC Championship game. Geneseo defeated Oswego, 67-51, in last year's semifinals, before falling, 64-53, to New Paltz in the finale.