CORTLAND, NY – The Cortland women's basketball team built a 33-12 lead at halftime, and cruised to a 71-41 victory over visiting Buffalo State in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) action on Tuesday evening.
 
The Red Dragons, ranked 23rd nationally by D3hoops.com, have won nine straight games and move to 11-2 (6-0 SUNYAC), while Buffalo State drops to 2-10 (1-4 SUNYAC) with the defeat.
 
Joleen Lusk (Cherry Valley/Cherry Valley-Springfield) led all scorers with 21 points on 10-of-13 shooting (76.9%) from the field. Sam Dembinsky (Wallkill) chipped in 10 points, including 6-of-7 from the charity stripe.
 
Five other Red Dragons scored at least five points, as Cortland shot 52.7% from the field as a team. Sarah Owen (Floral Park/Floral Park Memorial) matched her season high with eight points, and Abby Sheehan (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) and Brooke Tillotson (Marathon) each registered seven points. Sophie Bissaillon (East Greenbush/Columbia) had six points and a team-high six rebounds, while Charli Bennett (Aurora/Southern Cayuga) added a career-high five points.
 
Mya Brown finished with 10 points and five rebounds to lead Buffalo State, while Morgan Popp added seven points for the Bengals.
 
Cortland held Buffalo State to just 3-for-12 shooting in the first quarter in building a 16-6 lead after 10 minutes of action, with Lusk tallying eight of her points in the opening frame. The Red Dragons outscored the Bengals by a 17-6 margin in the second quarter, with five points from Sheehan and four points from Bissaillon, to take a 21-point advantage into halftime.
 
The lead stretched to as many as 33 after a three-point play from Dembinsky to cap a 16-4 run for Cortland in the first five and a half minutes of the third quarter. The Red Dragons finished 8-for-12 shooting (66.7%) in the third quarter.

The teams emptied benches in the fourth quarter, leading to a combined 38 points in the final frame. Bennett tallied all five of her points in the period on a 3-pointer and a pull-up jumper, Owen scored four points on a layup and a pair of free throws, and Kaitlyn Nestor (Rockaway Beach/Archbishop Molloy) drained a 3-pointer in the final minute to complete the scoring.
 
The Cortland defense forced 15 Buffalo State turnovers for the contest, including 10 in the first half, leading to 25 points off those turnovers. The Red Dragons also finished the game with a 37-27 edge in rebounding.