The SUNY Oneonta women's basketball team wore down visiting New Paltz tonight en route to a come-from-behind, 53-46, victory. The win for the Red Dragons clinched them a SUNYAC tournament berth, as they ran its season record to 17-6 overall and 11-5 in conference play. The loss for the Hawks drops them to 5-18 overall and 3-13 in the SUNYAC.
Points off turnovers and the Oneonta bench fueled tonight's win. The Red Dragons were able to convert 23 Hawk miscues into 27 points while the bench added 15 points to none for the New Paltz reserves. Leading the Oneonta bench tonight was freshman Sara DiPasquale (Buffalo, NY/Cardinal O'Hara), who scored a season high 10 points in 19 minutes of action.
Trailing 35-28 with 12:27 remaining in the game, Oneonta began to chip away at the New Paltz lead. Oneonta gained it's first lead since late in the first half when senior Alyshia Crawford (Oxford/Oxford) hit one of two technical foul shots, which gave the Red Dragons a 40-39 lead. Crawford finished the game with 14 points to lead Oneonta.
The game was tied one final time at 41-41 before Oneonta closed the final 6:39 with a 12-5 spurt for the final margin of victory. Oneonta made 10-of-12 free throws down the stretch to secure the win.
In the game junior Sarah Longto (Kingston/Kingston) became the all-time leader in block shots. Longto had four blocks in the contest to go with eight boards and three steals. The four blocks gives her 151 for her career, surpassing the previous record of 149, set by Noreen Naughton in 2005.
The Red Dragons opened the game cold, hitting only one of its first 11 shots. After settling in, Oneonta began a run that game them a 9-8 lead on a Sara DiPasquale (Buffalo, NY/Cardinal O'Hara) layup at the 12:30 mark.
New Paltz regained the lead at 13-9 before seven unanswered points gave Oneonta the lead back at 16-13. The two teams exchanged the lead two more times over the final five minutes of the opening half with the Hawks grabbing a 24-21 lead at the break.
Freshman Kit Small led the Hawks tonight with 14 points to go with eight rebounds. Junior Shannan Walker added 12 points while freshman Courtney Irbe had a game high 14 rebounds.
Oneonta will close out the regular season next weekend on the road, as they will be at SUNY Geneseo and Brockport.
Newspaper Box Score
SUNY ONEONTA 53, NEW PALTZ 46
NEW PALTZ (5-18/3-13 SUNYAC)
SMALL, Kit 4-9 6-8 14; WALKER, Shannan 4-8 2-2 12; HARRISON, Goldie 2-9 4-4 9; RIVERA, Christine 3-7 0-4 7; IRBY, Courtney 2-11 0-0 4; SCOTT, Jeanette 0-2 0-2 0; TAYLOR, Colleen 0-1 0-0 0; CAMPBELL, Tanysha 0-0 0-0 0; RIEFENHAUSER, Ashley 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 15-51 12-20 46.
SUNY ONEONTA (17-6/11-5 SUNYAC)
CRAWFORD, Alyshia 3-11 7-8 14; DiPASQUALE, Sara 4-9 2-6 10; PRICE, Lyteshia 3-14 1-2 7; MULLIGAN, Kelly 1-4 5-10 7; SCHILLING, Grace 3-6 0-0 6; LONGTO, Sarah 2-4 0-0 4; ADAMS, Cara 1-4 0-0 3; PONESSE, Kaitlyn 0-0 2-2 2; SPECTOR, Brianna 0-6 0-0 0; FOLTMANN, Brooke 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-58 17-28 53.
3-point goals--New Paltz 4-15 (WALKER, Shannan 2-5; HARRISON, Goldie 1-2; RIVERA, Christine 1-3; TAYLOR, Colleen 0-1; RIEFENHAUSER, Ashley 0-4), SUNY Oneonta 2-15 (CRAWFORD, Alyshia 1-8; ADAMS, Cara 1-4; PRICE, Lyteshia 0-1; MULLIGAN, Kelly 0-2).
Fouled out--New Paltz-HARRISON, Goldie, SUNY Oneonta-None.
Rebounds--New Paltz 40 (IRBY, Courtney 14), SUNY Oneonta 48 (PRICE, Lyteshia 9).
Assists--New Paltz 5 (WALKER, Shannan 2), SUNY Oneonta 13 (CRAWFORD, Alyshia 7).
Total fouls--New Paltz 25, SUNY Oneonta 18.
Technical fouls--New Paltz-SMALL, Kit, SUNY Oneonta-PRICE, Lyteshia.
A-172
