CORTLAND, N.Y. – Cortland whittled a 17-point halftime deficit to four with less than two minutes remaining but couldn't complete the comeback and the Red Dragons fell to visiting New Paltz, 80-72, in a battle of the top two teams in the SUNYAC women's basketball standings.
New Paltz (13-3, 8-1 SUNYAC) took over first place in the league with the victory, while Cortland (12-5, 8-2 SUNYAC) is now tied for second place with Geneseo.
Brooke Tillotson (Marathon) led Cortland with 20 points, six rebounds and three steals and also had three assists.
Lily Woodis (Dewittville/Chautauqua Lake) scored a career-high 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting, 5-for-8 from 3-point range, and
Logan Streety (Elma/Iroquois) added eight points and six rebounds.
Abby Wilkinson (Cato/Bishop Grimes) led the Red Dragons with four assists.
Brianna Fitzgerald hit 9-of-20 shots from the floor and 10-of-12 free throws and led New Paltz with 28 points, 15 rebounds, three assists and three steals. Morgan Hammell connected on 4-of-6 3-pointers in an 18-point effort and Abby Korzekwinski tallied 12 points.
New Paltz led 19-15 after one quarter and was up by 13 with 4:22 left in the first half. Cortland briefly closed to within nine before the Hawks scored the final eight points of the period, including four by Fitzgerald, to take a 44-27 halftime lead.
Cortland fought back in the third quarter and got to within single digits with 2:49 left and as close as six points on three occasions in the quarter, the last at 58-52 on a
Mariah Huss (Kenmore/Sacred Heart Academy) 3-pointer with 33 seconds left. New Paltz's lead fluctuated between five and nine points for the first seven minutes of the fourth. Cortland cut its deficit to four on two
Jackie Funk (Penfield) free throws with 1:34 left and missed two shots on its next possession. Still down four, the Red Dragons had a 3-pointer miss the mark with 29 seconds left. Fitzgerald sank two foul shots with 24 seconds left and Julia Sabatino sealed the win with two charity tosses at the 13-second mark.
New Paltz shot 56 percent in the first half but only 29 percent in the second half to end at 43 percent. Conversely, Cortland shot 31 percent over the opening 20 minutes but 50 percent in the second half to finish at 41 percent.
Cortland hosts Oswego on Saturday at 2 p.m.
