Tonight's opening round game of the 2019 SUNYAC Women's Basketball Tournament was as close as you could get until the final minute of play where the visiting sixth seeded Fredonia Blue Devils converted 7-of-10 free throws enroute to a 59-51 victory against third seeded SUNY Oneonta.
 
The win for the Blue Devils sets up a semifinals date with second seeded Geneseo this Friday night at New Paltz beginning at 5:30pm.  The loss for the Red Dragons drops them to 20-6 overall and they will now await the selections for this year's NCAA tournament on Monday, Feb. 25 to see if they will receive an at-large berth.
 
Fredonia (12-14) made 18-of-24 free throws in the contest outscoring Oneonta by 14 points at the charity stripe.  The Red Dragons made 4-of-8 free throws tonight.  The Blue Devils ended the game on a 9-0 run, as the Red Dragons went scoreless over the final 2:27 of the game.
 
Oneonta entered the final period down 39-36 and gained the lead 44-42 when they ran off seven unanswered points.  The run was capped with a trey from senior Teresa Anken (Rome/Rome Free Academy).  Anken led all scorers in the contest tonight with 15 points.
 
Back-to-back layups by Anna Chiacchia and Katie Pitcher put the Blue Devils back in front at the 4:23 mark.  Anken knotted the score at 46 apiece and the two teams then took turns with the lead.  The final lead change came when Fredonia point guard Sarah Sweazy hit a driving layup with 1:35 to go to put the Blue Devils up 52-51.
 
The two teams battled relatively even statistically through the opening two quarters with Fredonia holding a slight 26-23 lead at the break.  Back-to-back threes by Chiacchia and Sweazy in the closing minute of the half gave the Blue Devils its advantage.
 
Oneonta turned six first half Fredonia turnovers into eight points on the other end.  Anken led the Red Dragons eight points.
 
Fredonia had four players in double figures tonight led by Raeann White who scored 13 points.  Pitcher, Sweazy and Chiacchia all contributed 10 points.