NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – The second-seeded Cortland women's basketball team advanced to the championship game of the SUNYAC tournament with a 65-49 win over sixth-seeded Oneonta in a semifinal game hosted by New Paltz.
Cortland (23-3) will play the host and top-seeded Hawks in the championship game Saturday at 4 p.m. in a rematch of last year's title game, which Cortland won at home. New Paltz slipped past fourth-seeded Plattsburgh, 39-38, in Friday's first semifinal game on two free throws by Karly Wittenbauer with less than a second remaining.
Cortland and New Paltz were SUNYAC regular-season co-champions with 17-1 league marks, splitting their two games. New Paltz earned the top seed by the fifth league tiebreaker, which was higher NCAA Power Index (NPI) rating after last Sunday's action.
Brooke Tillotson (Marathon) and
Jackie Funk (Penfield) shared team scoring honors for Cortland with 13 points apiece. Tillotson was 6-of-11 from the field and pulled down six rebounds. Funk hit 5-of-11 shots.
Sophie Bissaillon (East Greenbush/Columbia) tied her career high with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting and led Cortland with seven rebounds.
Also for Cortland,
Joleen Lusk (Cherry Valley/Cherry Valley-Springfield) finished with 11 points, six rebounds and three steals and
Kaeli McAnally (Islip) had seven points and four rebounds.
Oneonta (15-12) was led by Megan Desrats with 15 points and six steals. She also totaled six rebounds. Leela Guobadia scored nine points and hauled in a team-high eight rebounds.
Cortland led 26-16 with six minutes left in the first half before Oneonta came back and cut its deficit to two before trailing by four at halftime, 31-27. Cortland, however, opened the second half on a 11-2 run, with the first seven points coming from Funk, followed by baskets by Lusk and Bissaillon, to take a 42-29 lead. Oneonta was within nine on a few occasions in the third, but Cortland 50-40 entering the fourth and built the lead to 63-43 in the first seven minutes of the fourth.
Cortland shot 44 percent from the floor and 10-of-13 (77 percent) from the foul line, while Oneonta ended at 34 percent from the field, including 0-for-13 from the 3-point arc, and 13-of-18 (72 percent) from the free throw line.
