Molly Byrne made a school record-tying eight three-pointers, all in the second half, and finished with 24 points
ONEONTA, N.Y. – SUNYAC leader Oneonta pulled away from a tight game late in the first half and the host Red Dragons went on to defeat Cortland, 72-62, in a conference matchup. Oneonta is 16-6 overall and 14-2 in the league. Cortland falls to 13-9 overall and drops into a tie for fourth in the SUNYAC with Geneseo at 8-7.
Cortland lost despite senior guard
Molly Byrne (Syracuse/Bishop Ludden) tying a school single-game record with eight three-pointers. Byrne finished 8-for-10 from the field, all from three-point range and all in the second half after not attempting a shot in the opening period. She finished with a game-high 24 points and tied the school record for treys in a game set by Erin Egan in the 2001-02 season and Sara Cavanaugh in the 2006-07 season.
Byrne accounted for 24 of Cortland's 31 second-half points. Senior
Brittany Cohen (Fayetteville/Jamesville-DeWitt) scored 14 points, all in the first half, and led the team with five assists and four steals. Senior
Ally Biordi (Beacon) and freshman
Brittany Rando (Owego/Owego Free Academy) led Cortland with five rebounds each.
Madison Slagle and Samantha Szkotak led Oneonta with 19 points each. Slagle hit three three-pointers and added eight rebounds and three steals. Sarah Longto led the hosts with nine rebounds and Grace Schilling distributed five assists. Szkotak and Kristin Pappalardo each finished with seven rebounds as Oneonta outrebounded Cortland, 52-29.
The game was tied seven times in the first half, the last at 24-24 after Kristina Davenport (Honeoye) hit a shot for Cortland with 7:02 remaining. Oneonta scored the next 10 points – five each by Slagle and Szkotak – and led 34-24 with 3:14 left in the half. Oneonta led by as many as 14 points in the half and 43-31 at the break.
Oneonta's lead remained in double figures for almost the entire second half. Cortland was within 10 after Byrne three-pointers at the 9:16 mark and 6:54 mark, but couldn't get any closer until the final 1:11 when three straight Byrne triples reduced an 18-point deficit to nine.
Cortland will host Brockport on Tuesday, Feb. 14, at 6 p.m.
Box Score/Play-by-Play
