ITHACA, N.Y. – Ithaca outscored Cortland 18-2 over the final four minutes of regulation and five-minute overtime as the Bombers rallied to defeat the visiting Red Dragons, 64-55, in the women's basketball season opener for both teams.
 
Nyia Longford (Medford/Longwood) led Cortland with 15 points, including 3-of-4 3-point shooting, and grabbed nine rebounds. Senior Emily Morano (Olyphant, PA/Mid Valley), in her Red Dragon debut, hit 4-of-7 treys and finished with 14 points, while Maggie Malone (Cornwall) scored 12 points. Julia Siler (Seaford) matched Longford with nine rebounds and Casey Travers (Manorville/Eastport-South Manor) finished with seven points, six rebounds and three assists.
 
Zoraida Icabalceta scored 19 points to lead Ithaca. She made 4-of-5 shots from the 3-point arc and added five rebounds, five steals and three assists. Emily Dorn tallied 14 points and grabbed six rebounds, Cara Volpe had eight points, three assists and a team-high 10 rebounds, and Natalie Smith scored eight points. Lindsey Albertelli pulled down eight rebounds.
 
Cortland led 43-30 with 7:28 left in the third quarter before Ithaca closed to within one late in the period. The Red Dragons, however, used a Siler 3-pointer at the end of the period and a Longford trey a minute and a half into the fourth to push their lead to seven.
 
The Red Dragons' lead was still seven at 53-46 on Malone's jumper with 4:01 left in regulation. Ithaca slowly fought back, using a Icabalceta 3-pointer at the 3:23 mark and a Dorn layup with 2:48 left to cut Cortland's lead to two. It stayed that way until Dorn's layup with 30 seconds left tied the game at 53-53. Cortland attempted to hold for a final shot but turned the ball over with less than two seconds left. Ithaca called timeout but missed a potential game-winning jumper at the buzzer.
 
Icabalceta's 3-pointer less than 30 seconds into overtime gave Ithaca its first lead since the first minute of the second quarter. The Bombers scored 11 of the game's 13 overtime points, with Cortland's lone tally a Morano layup with 1:30 left that cut the deficit to four.
 
Cortland shot 34 percent from the field and was 11-of-24 (46 percent) from 3-point range, but the Red Dragons turned the ball over 22 times compared to just 10 giveaways by the hosts. Ithaca finished at 34 percent from the floor overall and 36 percent (8-for-22) from the arc.
 
Cortland will host Hartwick next Tuesday at 7 p.m.