CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Cortland women's basketball team shot 58 percent from the field and had four players score in double figures as the Red Dragons won their home opener with an 88-81 win over non-league foe St. John Fisher.
Cortland (3-1), which shot 63 percent through the first three quarters, won its third straight game. St. John Fisher, the three-time defending Empire 8 champion, fell to 5-4 with the loss.
Kayla Campbell (Franklin/Franklin Central) led Cortland with 25 points, including 18 in the first quarter. She made seven of her nine shots in the period along with all three of her free throws, and she ended the game 9-of-14 from the floor and 6-of-7 from the foul line. She also had four assists.
Kaeli McAnally (Islip) made all five of her shots, including three 3-pointers, and finished with 15 points, a team-high six assists and a shared team high of four rebounds.
Joleen Lusk (Cherry Valley/Cherry Valley-Springfield), who played at St. John Fisher last season, finished with 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting and
Brooke Tillotson (Marathon) scored 13 points, grabbed four rebounds and dished out four assists.
Also for the Red Dragons,
Bella Zingoni (Kings Park/Long Island Lutheran) hit 4-of-6 shots and ended with nine points.
Mariah Huss (Buffalo/Sacred Heart Academy) led Cortland with three steals.
St. John Fisher shot 54 percent from the field, including 57 percent in the second half. Katie Moravec led four Cardinals' double-figure scorers with 19 points and had three steals. Presleigh Brunner made 7-of-10 field goals and ended with 17 points and four assists, Sidney Tomasso connected on three 3-pointers and finished with 16 points, six rebounds, four steals and three assists, and Hannah Ferguson was 6-of-9 from the floor and concluded the game with 14 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Fisher jumped out to a 19-8 lead in the game's first seven minutes, but Cortland closed the quarter on a 14-3 run, with Campbell netting the first 12 points in that streak, to tie the game at 22-22 after one period. Leading 33-32, the Red Dragons went on a 12-4 run over the final four minutes of the second quarter to take a 45-36 halftime lead.
Cortland pulled away in the first five and a half minutes of the third quarter, outscoring the guests 16-8 to push its lead to 17 at 61-44. The Red Dragons led by as many as 21 points in the third and were still up by 16 with just over six minutes remaining. Fisher made a push to get back to within nine points twice at the 3:07 and 2:16 marks, but McAnally hit two free throws and a 3-pointer to give Cortland an 88-74 lead with 1:22 left. Fisher scored the game's last seven points to create the final 7-point margin.
Cortland begins SUNYAC play at home this weekend with games versus Potsdam on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and Plattsburgh Saturday at 1 p.m. - the Plattsburgh game was recently moved an hour earlier than the originally scheduled start time.
