A strong second half by the SUNY Oneonta women's basketball team lifted them to a 61-44 win against Buffalo State Bengals in its regular season finale.  The win for Oneonta (15-10, 10-8 SUNYAC) earned them the No. 4 seed for the SUNYAC tournament, which begins this coming Tuesday.  For the Red Dragons, they earned an opening round home game and they will host Plattsburgh at 7pm.
 
The star of the game was senior Sarah Longto (Kingston/Kingston), who was playing her final regular season home game.  Longto fell two points shy of a triple-double, as she collected 13 rebounds and blocked 11 shots.  Longto, who moved into second all-time in career rebounds added to her all-time lead in blocks, which now stands at 213.  Her 11 blocks today is the second most all-time in a single game.
 
The Red Dragons secured the lead for good in the final 3:26 of the first half, breaking a 20-20 tie en route to a 25-22 lead at the break.  Junior Caysea Cohen (Stony Brook/Ward Melville) scored half of her team high 18 points in the opening half of play.
 
Buffalo State (12-13, 9-9 SUNYAC) scored the opening basket of the second half to make the score 25-24.  Two minutes later a three-point play by Ashley Wallace brought the Bengals back to within a bucket, but that would be as close as they would be for the remainder of the contest.
 
Oneonta began to pull away from the Bengals, beginning with an 11-2 run that pushed its lead to double digits for the first time.  The Bengals cut its deficit back to eight points, but the Red Dragons put the game out of reach with a 15-6 burst.
 
Junior Lyteshia Price (Liverpool/Liverpool) was in double figures for Oneonta today with 12 points as was sophomore Cara Adams (Attleboro, MA/Bishop Feehan) who added 10 points off the bench.
 
Wallace led Buffalo State with 15 points to go with 13 rebounds.  Niasha Houpe ripped down a game high 14 boards including eight off the offensive glass.
 
Newspaper Box Score
2/21/15 4:00pm at Oneonta, NY
SUNY ONEONTA 61, BUFFALO STATE 44
 
BUFFALO STATE (12-13,9-9 SUNYAC)
WALLACE, Ashley 6-15 3-5 15; HERNANDEZ, Harriet 3-6 1-2 9; EDWARDS, Keyonte 3-10 1-2 7; HOUPE, Niasha 2-14 1-2 5; PERRY, Brittnee 1-10 1-4 4; LUCIANI, Olivia 2-8 0-0 4; McLEAN, Caleh 0-0 0-0 0; MATIAS, Clarisa 0-1 0-0 0; KOLLAR, Hillary 0-7 0-0 0. Totals 17-71 7-15 44.
 
SUNY ONEONTA (15-10,10-0SUNYAC)
COHEN, Caysea 6-12 2-2 18; PRICE, Lyteshia 4-14 2-4 12; ADAMS, Cara 3-8 2-2 10; LONGTO, Sarah 3-7 2-2 8; DAVIS, Jillian 2-4 1-1 5; SPECTOR, Brianna 1-3 2-4 4; DIPASQUALE, Sara 2-2 0-0 4; CARISEO, Caitlin 0-1 0-0 0; LOOMIS, Bryn 0-3 0-0 0; POLLETTA, Kathryn 0-0 0-0 0; LISIKATOS, Samantha 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-55 11-15 61.
 
3-point goals--Buffalo State 3-15 (HERNANDEZ, Harriet 2-5; PERRY, Brittnee 1-1; LUCIANI, Olivia 0-4; MATIAS, Clarisa 0-1; KOLLAR, Hillary 0-3; EDWARDS, Keyonte 0-1), SUNY Oneonta 8-18 (COHEN, Caysea 4-6; ADAMS, Cara 2-5; PRICE, Lyteshia 2-6; LISIKATOS, Samantha 0-1).
Fouled out--Buffalo State-None, SUNY Oneonta-None.
Rebounds--Buffalo State 48 (HOUPE, Niasha 14), SUNY Oneonta 49 (LONGTO, Sarah 13).
Assists--Buffalo State 6 (WALLACE, Ashley 2), SUNY Oneonta 14 (COHEN, Caysea 4).
Total fouls--Buffalo State 11, SUNY Oneonta 12.
Technical fouls--Buffalo State-None, SUNY Oneonta-None.
A-74