ONEONTA, N.Y. -- The Oneonta women's basketball team travels to northern New York to take on Canton in the first round of the SUNYAC Women's Basketball tournament on Tuesday, February 24, at 7 pm at Roos House. General admission tickets are $5 for adults and children 12 and under. All SUNYAC students with valid student ID are free of charge. Tickets will be available for cash-only purchase starting an hour before tip at 6:00 pm at the venue.

The Red Dragons enter the conference tournament as the six seed after they finished the regular season with an overall record of 14-11 and 9-9 against SUNYAC opponents. The Roos earned the three seed in the conference after they went 19-6 overall and 12-6 in league play. 

Comparing both teams against conference opponents, Oneonta averaged 56.1 points a game on 33.5 percent shooting from the field, while they held their opponents to 56.1 points a game on 37.7 percent shooting. Canton averaged the conference-high 68.5 points a game on 37.7 percent shooting from the floor, and they have held their opponents to 58.7 points on 33.0 percent shooting. The Red Dragons brought in 39.1 rebounds a game for a +1.1 rebounding margin, and the Roos totaled 45.8 rebounds with a +4.3 margin.

In the regular season, Canton took both head-to-head games. The first contest was played in Oneonta where the Red Dragons held a 29-26 halftime lead, however the Roos went ahead in the second half and held on for a 58-50 final. Oneonta had junior Megan Desrats (Warwick, NY/Warwick Valley), sophomore Kendall Mack (Cortland, NY/Cortland), and freshman Kayla Beaudoin (Brunswick, NY/Tamarac) co-lead the team with 11 points, while Canton had Kat Taru-McRobbie total 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Hope Aniceto score 15 points. In their second matchup, Sierra Pabo led the Roos with 28 points and six rebounds as they built a 28-point lead by halftime for a 72-41 final.

Oneonta can spread the offense around with seven players averaging at least 5.0 points a game this season, which is tied with Cortland for second-most out of the playoff teams behind Plattsburgh, who has eight players. While having the ability to move the rock around, the Red Dragons offensive charge is led by a one-two punch of junior Carlie Young (Baldwinsville, NY/Baldwinsville Central) and senior Lidia Boucher (Delmar, NY/Bethlehem Central).

Young leads Oneonta with SUNYAC's 11th-best 11.5 points per game (ppg), shooting 36.2 percent from the floor, and 30.0 percent from three-point range. The junior forward had 10 games with at least 15 points this season, three double-doubles, and she became the seventh player in program history to record 30 points with a career-high 31 against Eastern Connecticut State. Young is fifth in the league with 40 made three-pointers and is third on the team with 5.5 rebounds per game (rpg) and over a steal a game with 25 total this year.

Boucher is second on the team with 11.0 ppg in the regular season, though she leads the Red Dragons against conference opponents with 11.6 ppg (ranked 14th in the SUNYAC). The Delmar, N.Y. native had eight games scoring at least 15 points, five games in SUNYAC play with at least three three-pointers, and she dropped a career-high 20 points against Oswego. She did not play in the team's second game against Canton this season. Boucher is ranked second on the team and eighth in the conference with 35 made triples, 14th in the league with 1.8 steals a game, and fourth on the team with 5.3 rpg.

The Red Dragons main ball handler is one of the best in the nation, as well as the SUNYAC, in Desrats. The junior point guard is first in the conference and 11th in NCAA Division III in assist to turnover ratio at 2.27. She is also 19th in the nation in total assists with 118, and 20th with 4.7 assists per game. Both marks are second-best in the conference.

Logging just over 34.75 minutes per game (92nd highest in Division III), Desrats averaged 5.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, and the SUNYAC's 11th-best 1.9 steals per game this season. She has been involved in each form of the game this season, recording three games with 10 or more points, nine games with at least eight rebounds, four games with eight or more assists (11 games with at least six), and eight games with at least three steals.

This year, Oneonta's freshmen class in Beaudoin, Addy Eckert (Bloomville, NY/South Kortright), Tyalia Fret-Thom (Poughkeepsie, NY/Roy C. Ketcham), Sydney Pleat (Albany, NY/Colonie Central), and Skye Cameron-Pressley (New Rochelle, NY/New Rochelle) have come in and made an immediate impact on the team's success.

Beaudoin started 21 games for the Red Dragons and was third on the team with 7.7 ppg, second with 41 assists, and fourth with 20 steals. She is one of the top free throw shooters in the league, leading the team (players with one free throw attempt a game) at 83.0 percent (39-for-47). This season, Beaudoin put up nine double-digit performances, including a career-high 17 points versus Hartwick, and she had seven games with at least two three-pointers. 

Eckert and Desrats were the only two players to start all 25 games for the team. The Red Dragon center led Oneonta with 6.4 rebounds a game, tied for 12th most in the conference, while she averaged 5.4 points. Eckert scored at least 10 points in four games this season and recorded two double-doubles against Hartwick and Buffalo State.

Fret-Thom averaged 20.2 minutes in 22 games with two starts for the team. She was third on the team with 22 made three-pointers and fourth with 6.4 points per game. Fret-Thom had six games with two or more treys, and she became the 10th player in program history to make six three-pointers in a single game on Feb. 7 against Fredonia.

Cameron-Pressley joined Desrats and Eckert as the only Red Dragons to play in all 25 games this season. Cameron-Pressley had seven games where she brought in at least five rebounds, four games with at least five points, and is third on the team with a 36.5 field goal percentage.  Pleat joined Oneonta midway through the season and played in 11 games for the team. She has averaged 5.0 points per game with two games over 10 points and three games with at least two three-pointers.

A couple other role players for the Red Dragons are sophomore Leela Guobadia (Farmingdale, NY/Farmingdale) and Mack. The sophomore duo is Oneonta's most efficient scorers this season as Guobadia leads the team (players with at least one shot attempt per game) with a 42.3 field goal percentage, while Mack is second shooting 41.0 percent from the floor. Guobadia appeared in 15 of the team's final 16 games after dealing with a pre-season injury, and, in her last eight games, she averaged 4.3 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 0.8 blocks. Mack played in 22 games for Oneonta with her first career start occurring on Feb. 13 against New Paltz, and in the past nine games has averaged 5.8 points while shooting 40.0 percent from three-point range.

On the other side of the court, Canton is led by Pabo and Taru-McRobbie. Pabo is their top scorer, averaging 15.0 points with 5.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 1.5 steals, while Taru-McRobbie averaged 13.6 points and 6.4 rebounds. Kate Grainger recorded 11.0 points a game and was the Roos' leading rebounder (7.8 rpg). Aniceto scored 61 three-pointers for her team while averaging 9.5 ppg. and 31.6 percent from deep.

The winner will advance to the semifinals and play two-seeded Cortland in New Paltz on Friday, February 27, at 7:30 pm. New Paltz, the tournament's host and top seed, will face the winner of Plattsburgh and Oswego on Friday at 5:30. The winners of the two semifinal games will play in the SUNYAC Championship the next day on Saturday, February 28, at 4 pm.