The SUNY Oneonta women's basketball team will look to capture its third SUNYAC title all-time this weekend at Cortland.  Oneonta must first face New Paltz in the semifinals this Friday night at 6:00 p.m. Oneonta is the No. 2 seed for this year's SUNYAC tournament behind Cortland, but ahead of New Paltz (#3) and Geneseo (#4).  The hosts will play Geneseo in the second semifinal at 8:00 p.m.
     Oneonta enters this weekend 17-9 overall after defeating Buffalo State 71-47 last night in its quarterfinal match up.  Oneonta broke open a 37-34 halftime lead by scoring the first 13 points of the second half.  Junior Rebecca Bucci (Marlboro/Our Lady of Lourdes) and sophomore Samantha Szkotak (New York Mills/New York Mills) each scored 14 points to lead the Red Dragons in the win.
     Szkotak currently leads the team in both scoring (12.9 ppg) and rebounding (5.8 rpg) and is second in three-point baskets made (35) and blocks (30).
     Bucci leads the team with 43 three-pointers and 41 steals and is second in assists (112), scoring (9.7 ppg) and rebounding (5.4 rpg).
     Senior Sara Chrystie (Oxford/Oxford) leads the team with 125 assists and is second with 39 steals while averaging 6.9 points per contest.  Chrystie remains atop the NCAA Div. III in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.16.
     Oneonta will be making its third straight appearance in the tournament semifinals and 11th overall all-time.  The Red Dragons have not advanced to the championship game since 2004.  Oneonta's two conference titles came in 1998 and 2001.
     This year the SUNYAC will crown a new champion as last year's winning squad, Brockport, did not qualify for the conference tournament.
     Oneonta is an even 3-3 against the rest of the field that is competing this weekend.  Oneonta swept
Geneseo, split with New Paltz and was swept by Cortland during the regular season.  In the most recent games, Oneonta fell to New Paltz and Cortland last week to end the regular season, but defeated Geneseo
back on Feb. 2nd.
     The SUNYAC Champion will receive the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Div. III tournament, which will begin with first and second round games next weekend. The field of 64 will be announced on Monday, March 1st at 12:30 p.m. EST. The final four is scheduled for March 19-20 in Bloomington, Ill.