SCRANTON, PA. – The Cortland women's basketball team opened its 2024-25 season with a 69-48 non-league loss at nationally third-ranked Scranton.
Joleen Lusk (Cherry Valley/Cherry Valley-Springfield) led Cortland with 12 points and added three rebounds and two blocked shots.
Jackie Funk (Penfield) scored nine points,
Kaeli McAnally (Islip) ended with six points and four rebounds and
Kayla Campbell (Franklin) scored six points.
Sophie Bissaillon (East Greenbush/Columbia) led the team with seven rebounds.
Scranton (1-0), which finished 28-3 and advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals last year, was led by Kaci Kranson with 21 points and eight rebounds. Meghan Lamanna finished with 10 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals and Katie Gorski scored 11 points. Maddie Hartnett and Kaeli Romanowski each pulled down seven rebounds, and Romanowski led the Royals with four assists.
Scranton raced out to a 14-1 lead seven and a half minutes into the contest. Cortland responded with a 10-1 run and trailed only 15-11 after a McAnally layup with 8:25 left in the second quarter. The hosts, however, pushed a 17-13 lead to 24-13 in a two-minute span later in the period and led 30-16 at halftime. The margin remained in double figures the rest of the way.
Neither team shot particularly well in the contest. Scranton finished at 38 percent overall from the floor and 29 percent (7-of-24) from 3-point range, while Cortland shot 32 percent overall and 18 percent (3-of-17) from deep.
Cortland returns to action Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at Ithaca.
