The SUNY Oneonta women's basketball team nearly overcame another double-digit deficit in the second half, but fell short to Fredonia tonight at home 68-63.  The Red Dragons had four players in double figures led by sophomore Lyteshia Price (Liverpool/Liverpool), who netted 17 points.

Fredonia (12-7/7-6 SUNYAC) had four players in double figures as well tonight led by sophomore Brittany LaForce, who scored a game high 18 points.  The Blue Devils had a hot night shooting, as they finished at 52 percent.

Oneonta (15-6/9-5 SUNYAC) found themselves in a 14-point hole on two occasions in the second half.  Trailing 52-38 with 11:14 remaining in the contest, the Red Dragons began to chip away at Fredonia's lead.  Over the next four minutes, Oneonta scored 11 unanswered points to get within three points at 52-49.  A layup by Price capped the run at the 7:25 mark.

The Red Dragons continued its climb and a layup by sophomore Bryn Loomis (Norwich/Norwich) brought the Red Dragons even closer at 59-58 with 2:45 remaining in the game.

On the next possession for Fredonia, LaForce buried a three-pointer to give the Blue Devils some breathing room heading down the stretch.  A layup by sophomore Sabrina Macaulay pushed the lead to five points with 1:29 to go.

Junior Sarah Longto (Kingston/Kingston) then made 1-of-2 free throws and a layup to get Oneonta to 64-61 with 46 seconds left.  A jumper by LaForce and a pair of free throws by freshman Alexis Cheatham put the game out of reach for Oneonta.

Senior Grace Schilling (Northport/Northport) scored 15 points while dishing out six assists.  Classmate Alyshia Crawford (Oxford/Oxford) added 12 points while Longto had 11 points.

Cheatham finished the game with 15 points and five assists.  Senior Becky Hebert had 17 points while classmate Jaimie Warren added 10 points.  Macaulay collected a game high 12 rebounds.

Oneonta will host first place Buffalo State tomorrow afternoon beginning at 2pm.

Newspaper Box Score
FSU 68, SUNY ONEONTA 63

FSU (12-7/7-6 SUNYAC)
Brittany LaFORCE 7-12 0-5 18; Becky HEBERT 6-12 5-5 17; Alexis CHEATHAM 5-10 2-2 15; Jaimie WARREN 5-7 0-0 10; Sabrina MACAULAY 3-5 0-0 6; Kathryn HALLORAN 1-4 0-0 2; Callie PATSELLIS 0-2 0-0 0; Alicia MIKOWICZ 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-52 7-12 68.

SUNY ONEONTA (15-6/9-5 SUNYAC)
PRICE, Lyteshia 7-13 3-4 17; SCHILLING, Grace 7-12 1-1 15; CRAWFORD, Alyshia 5-14 1-4 12; LONGTO, Sarah 5-10 1-2 11; LOOMIS, Bryn 3-9 0-0 6; MULLIGAN, Kelly 1-3 0-0 2; DiPASQUALE, Sara 0-1 0-0 0; PONESSE, Kaitlyn 0-1 0-0 0; ADAMS, Cara 0-5 0-0 0; SPECTOR, Brianna 0-1 0-0 0; MURRAY, Kiera 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-69 6-11 63.

3-point goals--FSU 7-15 (Brittany LaFORCE 4-6; Alexis CHEATHAM 3-8; Becky HEBERT 0-1), SUNY Oneonta 1-10 (CRAWFORD, Alyshia 1-6; ADAMS, Cara 0-3; PRICE, Lyteshia 0-1).
Fouled out--FSU-None, SUNY Oneonta-None.
Rebounds—FSU 32 (Sabrina MACAULAY 12), SUNY Oneonta 39 (PRICE, Lyteshia 8).
Assists—FSU 12 (Alexis CHEATHAM 5), SUNY Oneonta 17 (SCHILLING, Grace 6).
Total fouls--FSU 11, SUNY Oneonta 12.
Technical fouls--FSU-None, SUNY Oneonta-None.
A-208