CORTLAND, N.Y. – Cortland pulled away from a tight contest in the second half and the Red Dragons defeated visiting SUNY Poly, 76-64, in women's basketball non-league action.
 
Casey Travers (Manorville/Eastport-South Manor) finished with 16 points, three rebounds and a career-high seven assists, Maggie Malone (Cornwall) scored 15 points, led Cortland (3-1) with eight rebounds and handed out four assists, and Emily Morano (Olyphant, PA/Mid Valley) totaled 12 points, six rebounds and a career-best eight assists. Sarah Tully (East Aurora) added 11 points and seven rebounds and Nyia Longford (Medford/Longwood) scored nine points and pulled down four boards.
 
Molly Burdick led the Wildcats (1-3) with 22 points, Lauren Denny tallied 19 points and Lyrik Jackson finished with 13 points, six rebounds and three assists. Kierra Connor posted eight points, 10 rebounds, three steals and two blocks.
 
The first half featured six lead changes. Cortland led 6-0 early, but SUNY Poly used a 17-4 run to take a 17-10 lead with 3:47 remaining in the quarter. The Red Dragons got back to within 20-18 on a Morano 3-pointer before Burdick's jumper in the final seconds put the guests ahead 22-18.
 
Cortland opened up a 31-24 advantage four minutes into the second, but the Wildcats responded again and eventually held a 36-33 lead on Denny's layup with 45 seconds left. Cortland scored the final four points of the half on a Fiona Mullen (Orangeburg/Tappan Zee) putback with 27 seconds left and Brooke Tillotson's (Marathon) fast-break layup just before the buzzer to go up 37-36 at halftime.
 
Cortland never trailed in the second half. The Red Dragons led 53-47 with 1:18 remaining in the third and pushed the margin to nine when Travers hit a 3-pointer with 35 seconds left. The lead quickly grew to 17 points in the first 2:07 of the fourth on eight straight points from Travers – a 3-pointer with 8:57 left, followed by a layup at the 8:31 mark and a 3-pointer with 7:53 remaining. SUNY Poly eventually whittled its deficit down to 69-59 with 2:31 left and 73-64 with 49 seconds left but got no closer.
 
Cortland shot 44 percent overall and hit 10-of-32 shots from 3-point range, including seven treys in the second half. SUNY Poly made only 1-of-10 shots from the arc but did hold a 13-6 advantage on the foul line.
 
The Red Dragons open SUNYAC play next Tuesday at home versus Geneseo at 5:30 p.m.