LAS VEGAS, NV – The SUNY Oneonta women's basketball team dominated the paint and glass while they held Wellesley College to 25.5 percent from the field in their 49-33 victory, Thursday afternoon at the South Point Arena in Las Vegas. The Red Dragons (9-3) held the Blue (5-7) scoreless for a 14-minute stretch from the beginning of the second quarter to the middle of the third, while outrebounding them 51-33.
 
Oneonta used their size to take control and scored all their first-quarter field goals inside while grabbing seven offensive rebounds. Senior Olivia Dobrovosky (Skaneateles/Skaneateles) found sophomore Amanda Zuntag (Staten Island/Notre Dame Academy) for the first two baskets of the contest. Graduate student Megan Palmatier (Bainbridge/Bainbridge-Guilford) converted a second chance bucket before sophomore Nadia Brown (Troy/Troy) found her on a backdoor cut to the rim. Then, graduate student Clara Culeton (Oswego/Oswego) had some mismatches down low and scored a couple layups to make it 12-4 with 4:06 left in the first. The Blue brought themselves back to within two with a couple three-pointers from Jiyun Chae and Anna Greenthal. Greenthal hit a jumper before the quarter ended and Wesseley only trailed 12-13 heading into the second.  

The Blue scored on their first possession in the second quarter to take a one-point lead with 9:37 left, however the Red Dragons shut them down for the rest of the quarter and went on an 18-0 run that seeped into the third quarter. Dobrovosky started the run with a jumper after she grabbed an offensive board. Brown fed it to Zuntag for a contested turnaround layup, before she drove into the lane for a bucket herself on the next possession. At 3:34 junior Molly Stephens (LaGrange/Arlington) hit an eight-footer from the baseline to make it a double-digit lead, 24-14. Before the half ended, sophomore Molly Coyne (Syracuse/West Genesee) and Stephens each hit a deep two from the wing, and Palmatier split a pair at the line to head into the third up 29-14.  

The offensive run for the Red Dragons was capped off when senior Meg Nardelli (Wappingers Falls/Roy C. Ketcham) found Zuntag for a layup with 9:15 in the third while the defensive halt continued until 5:44 when Pujita Shukla made a layup for the Blue, nearly 14 minutes from their previous basket. Oneonta closed out the third with a triple from Nardelli and four points from Dobrovosky to go into the fourth up 38-22.  

Another three from Nardelli and a free throw from junior Jenna Harclerode (Sayville/Sayville) put the Red Dragons up 20 to start the fourth. With 4:49 remaining, Stephens hit a three-pointer to give Oneonta a 22-point lead, their largest lead of the game. Oneonta managed the clock for the rest of the game and went on to win their sixth straight.  

Out of the 11 Red Dragons that scored, Zuntag led with eight points and tallied four rebounds. Dobrovosky finished with six points, 14 rebounds, seven offensive, and three steals. Stephens ended the day with seven points and five rebounds.  

Shukla led the Blue with eight points and Chae finished with five points, four rebounds and three steals.  

The Red Dragons are back in action Saturday, January 7, on the road for a SUNYAC game against New Paltz at 2 pm.   Read Full Article