CORTLAND, N.Y. - Cortland erased a two-point halftime deficit by outscoring visiting Buffalo State 45-19 in the second half and the Red Dragons remained perfect in SUNYAC women's basketball play with a 72-48 victory.
Cortland won its third straight game and is now 4-3 overall and 3-0 in the conference. The Red Dragons will host Fredonia (7-1, 3-0 SUNYAC) on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Alyssa Crosby (Brier Hill/Hammond) led a balanced Cortland attack with 14 points and added nine rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals. She made 6-of-9 shots from the floor.
Cassidy Chapko (Valley Falls/Hoosic Valley) and
Kristy Vitucci (Deer Park) each finished with 12 points, three rebounds and two assists.
Stephanie Rice (Duanesburg) just missed a double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds.
Taylor Miller (Freeport) and
Tanna Mohammed (Huntington/Elwood-John Glenn) each scored seven points, with Miller also amassing four rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Princella McCullough led Buffalo State (4-5, 1-2 SUNYAC) with 12 points, nine rebounds and five steals. Kaelee Lynch added 10 points, including three 3-pointers, and Taylor Graham and Caleh McLean netted eight points apiece.
The Bengals opened up a 21-12 lead late in the first quarter and led 21-14 at the period break. Cortland slowly worked its way back into the game in the second half, eventually tying the score at 27-27 on a Mohammed 3-pointer with 45 seconds left, but Mariah Rosario's layup with 32 seconds left gave the guests a 29-27 halftime lead.
Rosario also hit a layup on the first possession of the third quarter to put the Bengals up by four, but Cortland responded with a 16-2 run over the next six minutes. Vitucci opened the streak with a 3-pointer and, after a McCullough layup, Vitucci hit another trey to tie the game. Later in the run, five straight points by Rice extended Cortland's lead to 40-33, and Chapko nailed a 3-pointer at the 3:26 mark to push the advantage to 10.
Cortland led 48-40 after three quarters. The Bengals were still within seven at 55-48 with 5:44 left after a Graham 3-pointer, but Cortland scored the game's final 17 points to created the lopsided final margin.
Alaina Lynch (Staten Island/Staten Island Tech) started that run with a layup, followed by layups from Vitucci and Mohammed that made it a 13-point game with 4:25 left.
Cortland shot 48 percent from the field overall, including 60 percent (18-of-30) in the second half. The Red Dragons struggled from 3-point range in the first half at just 1-of-10 accuracy, but made 4-of-10 treys in the second half. Buffalo State was held to 28 percent shooting in the second half and 33 percent for the game. The Bengals made 6-of-16 3-pointers in the first half, but only 2-of-10 in the second half.
