The SUNY Oneonta women's basketball team fell to top-seeded New Paltz tonight, 77-68, in the semifinals of the SUNYAC tournament.  The loss for Oneonta (17-10) ended its season while the victory for New Paltz () pushed them into the conference championship game tomorrow versus SUNY Geneseo beginning at 4pm.
 
Shining in her final game as a Red Dragon was senior Bryn Loomis (Norwich/Norwich) who scored a collegiate high 23 points to lead Oneonta.  Classmate Lyteshia Price (Liverpool/Liverpool) added 12 points while collecting seven rebounds.  Junior Cara Adams (Attleboro, MA/Bishop Feehan) scored 17 points off the bench.
 
The seven rebounds for Price tied her for the all-time lead, as she tied 1998 graduate Bevan Szokoli with 727 career boards.  Price, who finishes her career with 1,097 points, is the only women's player in history to score 1,000 points and grab 700 rebounds.
 
After trailing early in the first quarter, the Red Dragons made a late run to grab a 13-11 lead heading into the second quarter.  Adams buried a three-pointer to cap a 9-0 run to end the first quarter.
 
In the second quarter, the two teams continued to battle closely, exchanging basket-for-basket for most of the period.  Tied at 28 apiece with 3:47 remaining, the Hawks scored the final eight points to take a 36-28 lead into halftime.
 
An early spurt by the Hawks to start the third quarter extended their lead to as many as 12 points just two minutes in.  Loomis got hot late in the quarter and helped Oneonta cut its deficit back to single digits by the end of the quarter.
 
The Hawks began to pull away in the opening four minutes of the final quarter and pushed its lead to 14 points with just over six minutes remaining.
 
Sophomore Samantha Lisikatos (Cold Spring/Haldane) started Oneonta's final run with a trey, as the Red Dragons scored nine unanswered to pull to within five points at 67-62 with 3:50 to go.  Unfortunately that would be as close as they would be, as the Hawks pulled away late for the final margin of victory.