Box Score Box Score

     SUNY Oneonta sophomore Samantha Szkotak (New York Mills/New York Mills) scored a collegiate career high 21 points in leading the Red Dragons to a 68-57 win against Nichols College in the semifinals of the Salem State Holiday Classic.  The win for Oneonta evens up its overall record at 4-4 while the Bison fall to 5-3.
     Szkotak scored 13 of her 21 points in the second half including 11 points over the final 10 minutes of the contest to help Oneonta pull away from Nichols.  Szkotak hit 7-of-12 shots from the field and was a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe.
     Classmate Madison Slagle (Rome/Rome Catholic) came off the bench to score a season high 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting.
     The Red Dragons took the lead at 5-4 early in the game on a three-point basket by freshman Gabi Regan (Troy/Columbia) and never looked back.  They built themselves a 10-point halftime lead, which Nichols cut to 40-36 at the 10:59 mark of the second half.  Back-to-back jumpers by Slagle and Szkotak on consecutive possessions gave Oneonta its cushion back en route to the 11-point victory.
     Oneonta shot exactly 50 percent from the field in the game including hitting 6-of-12 from behind the arc.
     The Red Dragons will play in the championship game of the two-day tournament tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. against the winner of the Salem State/Hiram College contest later today.