ONEONTA, N.Y. -- The SUNY Oneonta women's basketball team had a two-point lead with three minutes to play until SUNY Cortland went on a last-minute run to defeat Oneonta, 52-45, in the Battle of the Red Dragons, Saturday afternoon. Oneonta moved to 12-5 on the season and 7-3 in the conference while Cortland is now 15-3 overall and 10-1 in conference.  

The game started off tightly contested until Oneonta went on a 9-0 run to end the first quarter. After Casey Travers made a free throw to bring Cortland within one, senior Olivia Dobrovosky (Skaneateles/Skaneateles) scored a bucket inside the paint. On the next possession sophomore Nadia Brown (Troy/Troy) dished it in the post to sophomore Sophia Wakin (Delhi/Delaware Academy) for a turnaround basket to give Oneonta a five-point margin. Brown later converted a pair at the line and senior Meg Nardelli (Wappingers Falls/Roy C. Ketcham) knocked down a triple to make it a 15-5 lead heading into the second.  

A pair of free throws from graduate student Megan Palmatier (Bainbridge/Bainbridge-Guilford) gave Oneonta a 19-8 advantage with 8:27 left in the half, however Cortland began to chip away at the deficit. Maggie Malone made a pair of three-pointers and Travers drove in for a layup to make it 16-20 at 4:18. Dobrovosky and junior Jenna Harclerode (Sayville/Sayville) went back-and-forth with Cortland in the remaining minutes to maintain their lead. Following a trip to the line from Dobrovosky, Malone hit a three at the buzzer to cut Oneonta's lead to three, 26-23.  

Dobrovosky and Harclerode continued to be Oneonta's offense, scoring the team's first six points of the half. At 3:22, Nyia Longford made a shot inside to give Cortland their first lead of the game, 33-32. Junior Molly Stephens (LaGrange/Arlington) answered with a triple to regain the Oneonta's lead for a moment until Travers hit a jumper to tie it at 35. Graduate student Clara Culeton (Oswego/Oswego) ended the third quarter with a pair of free throws and kept the game knotted at 37.  

Longford gave Cortland the lead again at the start of the fourth, but Oneonta retaliated and got ahead by four with 7:33 remaining following a three-pointer from Nardelli, a layup from freshman Emma Schwarzbeck (Wallkill, NY/Wallkill Senior High School), and a Dobrovosky free throw. Once again Cortland clawed their way back and tied it at 43 with 3:36 left after Emily Morano's layup. Dobrovosky hit a jumper to retake the lead at 3:08, however that was Oneonta's final basket of the game. Cortland closed out the game on a 9-0 run with seven points coming from Morano.  

Dobrovosky had the team-high 13 points and tallied two steals. Harclerode finished with eight points and 10 rebounds.

Morano finished with 15 points for Cortland, while Malone had 10 points and seven rebounds.

Oneonta shot 28.3 percent from the field and grabbed 40 rebounds while Cortland finished 32.2 percent from the field and hauled in 41 rebounds.  

Oneonta is back in action Friday when they host Fredonia State at 5:30 pm.   Read Full Article