NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – New Paltz outscored Cortland 14-0 over the final six minutes of the first half to take a 26-19 halftime lead and the Hawks held off the Red Dragons in the second half for a 56-52 victory in the SUNYAC women's basketball tournament championship game.
New Paltz (25-2) won the league title for the fifth time in the last seven tournaments and avenged its loss to Cortland in last year's championship game. New Paltz won two of three matchups versus Cortland this season, with all three games being decided by four points or less. The Hawks earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs, while Cortland (23-4) is in good shape in the NCAA Power Index (NPI) to receive one of 21 available NCAA at-large berths. The NCAA tournament bracket will be announced on Monday, March 2, at 2:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.
Cortland seniors
Kaeli McAnally (Islip) and
Brooke Tillotson (Marathon) were named to the SUNYAC all-tournament team. McAnally led the Red Dragons with 16 points and Tillotson finished with 13 points and four rebounds.
Jackie Funk (Penfield) finished with nine points and four boards,
Joleen Lusk (Cherry Valley/Cherry Valley-Springfield) scored seven points and grabbed seven rebounds, and
Sophie Bissaillon (East Greenbush/Columbia) tallied seven points and added four rebounds.
New Paltz's Brianna Fitzgerald was named tournament MVP and was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Karly Wittenbauer and Hannah Vanderzee and Plattsburgh's Julia Greek. Fitzgerald finished the championship game with 21 points, six rebounds, four steals, four assists and three blocks. Vanderzee scored 14 points on 7-of-11 shooting and Wittenbauer scored nine points and grabbed five rebounds.
Cortland led 12-10 after one quarter and scored seven of the first nine points in the second quarter, capped by a McAnally 3-pointer, to take a 19-12 lead. Vanderzee scored eight of her 14 points during the Hawks' 14-0 run that put them up by seven at the break.
Cortland trailed 39-30 late in the third quarter and 41-34 entering the fourth, but the Red Dragons worked their way back and got within 46-44 on two McAnally free throws with six minutes left. Cortland was within two points three more times, the last at 54-52 on a McAnally layup with less than 30 seconds left. Fitzgerald hit one free throw with 19 seconds left, and Cortland raced up the court but missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer with less than eight seconds left. Wittenbauer made the second of two foul shots with six seconds left to seal the win.
