OSWEGO, N.Y. – The Cortland women's basketball team clinched the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) regular-season title with a 57-46 come-from-behind victory at Oswego.
Cortland (21-3, 16-1 SUNYAC) will be the top seed in next week's six-team SUNYAC tournament. The Red Dragons receive a bye in the first round and will host the league's semifinals and finals next Friday and Saturday, Feb. 28-March 1.
All six tournament seeds are locked in regardless of the outcome of the final regular-season games. Oswego (15-9, 12-5 SUNYAC) will be the third seed and will host sixth-seeded Oneonta and fourth-seeded Canton will host fifth-seeded Plattsburgh in first-round games Tuesday. Second-seeded New Paltz receives a bye and will play the Oneonta/Oswego winner and Cortland will face the Canton/Plattsburgh winner in semifinal games Friday, and the title game will be in Cortland Saturday.
Joleen Lusk (Cherry Valley/Cherry Valley-Springfield) led Cortland with 12 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.
Sophie Bissaillon (East Greenbush/Columbia) made 3-of-6 3-pointers and finished with nine points and four rebounds.
Jackie Funk (Penfield) also scored nine points,
Kayla Campbell (Franklin/Franklin Central) registered eight points, seven rebounds and two steals, and
Kaeli McAnally (Islip) grabbed four rebounds and led the team with four assists.
For Oswego, Giavanna White-Principio finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks. Shania Iglesias totaled 10 points, seven assists and five rebounds, Macey Deordio scored 10 points and added four rebounds and three steals, and Sydney Hoefs had nine points and seven rebounds.
Oswego led 20-6 after the first quarter and 23-8 less than a minute into the second quarter. Cortland went on a 12-0 run to cut the lead to 23-20 midway through the period and took a 26-25 lead on two Funk free throws with 2:57 left.
Cortland led 28-27 at halftime and opened the second half with 10 straight points, including treys by Bissaillon and Campbell, to take a 38-27 lead. The Red Dragons were up 43-33 after the third quarter, and Oswego pulled within seven twice in the fourth quarter. Leading 45-38 with 6:40 left, Cortland poured in eight straight points on a basket by Lusk and 3-pointers by Funk and Lusk to go up 53-38 with 4:20 left. The lead remained in double figures from that point.
Cortland closes out its regular-season schedule tomorrow (Saturday) at Canton.
