Box Score GENESEO, N.Y. – SUNY Geneseo senior forward Shannon McGinnis totaled 17 points and 10 rebounds for her 16th double-double of the season to lead the top-seeded Knights over No. 4 Oneonta, 62-49, in the semifinals of the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Women's Basketball Tournament, Friday.
Geneseo, winners of 16-straight games, will face No. 2 Cortland in the SUNYAC Championship scheduled to tip-off at 4 p.m. tomorrow in Schrader Gym. The Knights are making its fourth finals appearance in the last five years, their last title coming in 2011.
Geneseo swept the regular-season series with the Red Dragons, earning a 50-41 win at home (Jan. 13) before taking a 68-64 overtime victory at Cortland (Jan. 20). The last time the two teams met in the conference tournament was in the 2012 quarterfinals, which saw the Knights falling in overtime, 70-64.
Junior forward Allison McKenna had 12 points and 11 rebounds while junior guard Dana Cohan added 10 points in the victory.
At 17:40, a jumper by Red Dragons junior forward Caitlin Cariseo gave the visitors an early 7-0 lead. With 12:50 on the clock, senior forward Katie Peterson made a lay-up to cut the deficit to four, 12-8. Peterson finished the night with 10 points.
First-year forward Jillian Davis hit a jumper to give Cortland its largest lead, 16-8, with 11:34 remaining in the half. At the 5:14 mark, sophomore guard Bridgit Ryan made a jumper to give Geneseo its first lead of the game, 22-21, but the Red Dragons responded by scoring five-straight points to take a 26-22 advantage at 4:21.
Over the next three minutes, the Knights went on an 11-0 run to take a 33-26 lead with 1:14 on the clock. Oneonta hit a shot from long range in the final seconds but it was Geneseo taking a 35-32 edge into halftime.
At 16:45, Red Dragons senior center Sarah Longto made a jump shot to tie the game at 39. The Knights responded by going on 8-0 run to take a 47-39 lead at 12:22. The run was capped by a fast-break lay-up from sophomore guard Katie Durand.
Ahead 49-43 with 9:23 on the clock, Geneseo went on a 10-0 spurt that was capped by a lay-up from sophomore guard Kara Houppert to take its largest lead of the game, 59-43, at 5:00.
Semifinal #1 - No. 3 New Paltz vs. No. 2 Cortland
Box Score
GENESEO, N.Y. – SUNY Cortland junior forward Brittany Dumas totaled a game-high 24 points and 12 rebounds to lead the No. 2 Red Dragons to a 57-49 win over No. 3 New Paltz in the semifinals of the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Women's Basketball Tournament, Friday.
Cortland will play No. 1 Geneseo in the championship game, Saturday at 4 p.m. in Schrader Gym. The Red Dragons are 7-8 all-time in the SUNYAC Finals, their last title coming in 2010.
At the 14:52 mark, Hawks first-year guard Sydney Pinn completed a three-point play to give the designated visitors an early 8-2 lead. Cortland cut the lead to one, 10-9, after sophomore guard Cassidy Chapko made a shot from long range at 10:18.
With 7:21 left to play in the half, Red Dragons' first-year guard Kerry McHugh hit a three-pointer to make it a 15-12 game. However, Pinn made a lay-up to extend New Paltz' lead to six, 21-15, at 4:40.
Dumas made a jumper to cut the deficit to three, 26-23, with under a minute to play but it was the Hawks taking a 27-23 advantage into halftime.
After a Dumas three-pointer to open the second half, New Paltz scored on back-to-back possessions to take a 31-26 edge with 16:44 on the clock. At 13:18, sophomore forward Danielle Levine made a lay-up to tie the game at 35, and just under a minute later, a Dumas jumper gave Cortland its first lead of the game, 37-35.
At 6:03, Dumas hit another jumper to cap a 12-1 run and to give the Red Dragons its largest lead, 47-36. Senior guard Shannon Walker made a three to cut the Hawks' deficit to five, 47-42, at 4:40 but that's as close as they'd come as the Red Dragons made their free-throws down the stretch seal the win. Walker finished with a team-high 12 points.
