NEW YORK, N.Y. – Cortland rallied from a 12-point deficit in the second half to tie the game with less than four minutes remaining, but Messiah scored the next six points and the Falcons defeated the Red Dragons, 64-58, in the NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament opening round at NYU.
Cortland, making its fifth NCAA appearance in six years and 15th overall, finishes the season with a 23-5 record. Messiah (24-4) will face host and nationally top-ranked NYU in the second round Saturday evening.
Joleen Lusk (Cherry Valley/Cherry Valley-Springfield) led Cortland with 19 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots. She shot 7-of-11 from the field.
Brooke Tillotson (Marathon) scored 12 points and recorded five steals and three rebounds.
Sophie Bissaillon (East Greenbush/Columbia) finished with eight points, while
Sam Dembinsky (Wallkill) hit 3-of-5 shots and ended with seven points.
Kaeli McAnally (Islip) totaled six assists and three steals.
Liv Monturo led Messiah with 33 points and eight rebounds and she had three assists. She shot 14-of-27 from the field. Charlotte Milanesi made 5-of-7 shots in a 13-point performance and led the Falcons with nine assists and four blocks. April Kauffeldt grabbed eight rebounds and Brooke Fenchel dished out four assists.
Cortland shot 36 percent overall and hit 8-of-25 3-pointers. The Red Dragons were 10-of-14 from the foul line. Messiah did most of its damage from inside the arc, finishing at 52 percent shooting overall but just 2-of-7 from deep. The Falcons hit 8-of-9 free throws.
Cortland raced out to an early 16-6 lead with 3:43 left in the first quarter behind six points from Lusk and five from
Jackie Funk (Penfield). Messiah scored the last eight points of the period to pull within 16-14. Messiah's only lead in the first half came at 28-27 on EmmyFaith Wood's basket at the buzzer of the second quarter.
Messiah opened the second half on a 14-3 run to take a 42-30 lead with 4:19 left in the third quarter. Cortland pushed back to within six at 46-40 after three quarters, but the Red Dragons trailed 53-45 with five minutes left in the contest.
Mariah Huss (Buffalo/Sacred Heart Academy) hit a layup at the 4:56 mark, followed by 3-pointers from Bissaillon with four minutes left and Tillotson with 3:12 on the clock, to tie the game at 53-53. The Falcons responded with a 6-0 run, initiated by two Monturo baskets and capped by a Fenchel bucket, to go up 59-53 with 1:37 remaining.
Cortland eventually got back to within three on two Tillotson free throws with 18 seconds left, but Monturo hit two foul shots at the 17-second mark. After one Lusk free throw with 16 seconds left cut the deficit to four, Messiah turned the ball over but Cortland missed a 3-pointer and Milanesi hit two foul shots to wrap up the scoring.
