BUFFALO, N.Y.—Exactly one week ago, the Oneonta State and New Paltz women's basketball teams waged an epic battle in the regular season finale to determine who would be the third seed for the SUNYAC tournament.  Seeking to avenge its overtime loss to the Hawks, the Red Dragons worked overtime tonight before subduing New Paltz 66-63 in the semifinals of the conference tournament.  This was the third straight year that the two have met in the semifinals of the tournament and the second straight year that Oneonta has eliminated the Hawks.

Oneonta (18-8) now advances to the conference championship game for a second consecutive year, which will take place tomorrow afternoon versus host Buffalo State beginning at 4pm.  Buffalo State, the top seed in the tournament, easily defeated Cortland in the other semifinal tonight 76-31.  The winner of tomorrow's game earns an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.

It appeared that Oneonta would run away with the game tonight, but New Paltz wouldn't quit as they battled all the way back to overcome a 14-point halftime deficit to force the extra period.  The Hawks actually had the lead late at 55-54 on a free throw by Maliqua Fisher.

“I could see it from the beginning of the second half,” said coach Daphne Thompson.  “New Paltz likes to play a hurried tempo and we got caught up in it.  We were playing so controlled with a nice flow in the first half, but we turned the ball over early and allowed them to get back into the game.”

A jumper by Caitlin Irwin put New Paltz in front 57-54 with 2:05 remaining in regulation.  One minute later a pair of free throws by junior Gabi Regan (Troy/Columbia) pulled Oneonta back to 57-56.  Senior Samantha Szkotak (New York Mills/New York Mills) hit the second of two free throws to tie the score at 57 apiece with 39 seconds left.

New Paltz had the ball and they had two shots at a game-winner, but they couldn't convert.  Oneonta sophomore Kristin Pappalardo (Mahopac/Lakeland) grabbed the defensive rebound and raced to the other end only to miss a layup at the buzzer, which caused the game to go the extra period.

Pappalardo finished the game with 15 points, 10 rebounds and five steals.

“Kristin was on tonight,” said Thompson.  “She plays at such a high intensity level and she is still learning how to harness her energy and she did that for us tonight.”

In overtime, it was Szkotak that led the way for Oneonta.  She scored six of the nine points that the Red Dragons had in the extra session including the clinching free throws with one second left to secure the victory.  Szkotak would finish with 16 points in the contest.

The Red Dragons scored five straight points to open the extra period, but the Hawks responded with a three-pointer by senior guard Zoe Cohen.  After Madison Slagle (Rome/Rome Catholic) pushed the edge out to four, Irwin drained a triple to pull New Paltz to within one (64-63) with 1:54 to go in the period.  That ended up being the last field goal of the evening for the Hawks.  Slagle equaled Szkotak's 16 points as the third player in double figures for Oneonta.

New Paltz was hurt by a 43.5 percent (10-of-23) shooting night from the free-throw line and a 36.9 percent (24-of-65) mark from the floor. However, the Red Dragons committed 30 turnovers to the Hawks' 20, and New Paltz dropped in 33 points off Oneonta giveaways, 20 of which came in the second half, which aided in the comeback.

Oneonta couldn't have started any stronger tonight as they jumped on New Paltz early and often in racing to a 37-23 lead at halftime.  The Red Dragons were hitting just about everything as they finished the half shooting 52 percent from the field.

Szkotak got Oneonta off and running by burying a three-pointer to open the scoring and then followed with a layup for a quick 5-0 lead.   It was 7-0 before the Hawks finally got on the scoreboard.  Oneonta ran off eight unanswered to take a commanding 15-3 lead just seven minutes into the contest.  The Red Dragons led by as many as 17 points late in the opening half and settled for its 14-point advantage at the break.

On tomorrow's game with the Bengals, Thompson said, “I think we match up well with them.  We need to have another strong game defensively and convert more free throws.”

Oneonta and Buffalo State have played last for the SUNYAC title in 1984, which was the first year of the conference tournament.  That game went in favor of the Bengals 63-62.  Oneonta has won two SUNYAC titles, the last coming in 2001 after winning its first in 1998.

Newspaper Box Score
ONEONTA STATE 66, NEW PALTZ 63

ONEONTA STATE (18-8)
SZKOTAK, Samantha 6-13 3-4 16; SLAGLE, Madison 7-13 0-1 16; PAPPALARDO, Kristin 5-10 4-9 15; REGAN, Gabi 2-3 3-4 7; MULLIGAN, Kelly 0-1 5-6 5; CRAWFORD, Alyshia 1-5 1-1 3; PONESSE, Kaitlyn 1-1 0-0 2; SCHILLING, Grace
1-4 0-2 2; LONGTO, Sarah 0-0 0-1 0; SIMPRI, Vania 0-0 0-0 0; WILVERDING, Kate 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-50 16-28 66.

NEW PALTZ (18-9)
McCULLOUGH, Alex 6-17 0-0 13; CLIFFORD, Kaitlin 5-9 2-2 13; BRADLEY, Shanay 4-6 2-6 10; FISHER, Maliqua 2-8 5-13 9; IRWIN, Caitlin 4-14 0-0 9; COHEN, Zoe 2-5 0-0 6; SCOTT, Jeanette 1-4 1-2 3; GROVER, Bridget 0-0 0-0 0; BRYANT, Kahsyrah 0-1 0-0 0; DelGAUDIO, Samantha 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-65 10-23 63.

3-point goals--Oneonta State 4-15 (SLAGLE, Madison 2-6; PAPPALARDO, Kristin 1-3; SZKOTAK, Samantha 1-4; CRAWFORD, Alyshia 0-1; MULLIGAN, Kelly 0-1), New Paltz 5-17 (COHEN, Zoe 2-5; CLIFFORD, Kaitlin 1-4; McCULLOUGH, Alex 1-4; IRWIN, Caitlin 1-4).
Fouled out--Oneonta State-None, New Paltz-BRADLEY, Shanay.
Rebounds--Oneonta State 42 (PAPPALARDO, Kristin 10), New Paltz 39 (FISHER, Maliqua 9).
Assists--Oneonta State 12 (MULLIGAN, Kelly 3), New Paltz 8 (IRWIN, Caitlin 2; FISHER, Maliqua 2; CLIFFORD, Kaitlin 2).
Total fouls--Oneonta State 20, New Paltz 23.
Technical fouls--Oneonta State-None, New Paltz-None.
A-148