Women’s Basketball (8-1/2-0 SUNYAC)
Dec. 20th vs. Heidelberg, W 67-50 (Las Vegas Hoopla Tournament)
The Oneonta State women’s basketball team improved to 8-0 with a 67-50 victory of Heidelberg University in the Las Vegas Hoopla Tournament on Monday.
The win for the Red Dragons set a program record for the best start to a season, surpassing the 7-0 start at the beginning of the 1976-77 season.
Samantha Szkotak’s (New York Mills/New York Mills) game-high 15 points paced four Oneonta State players in double figures.
Senior
Rebecca Bucci (Marlboro/Our Lady of Lourdes) and freshman
Grace Schilling (Northport/Northport) scored 11 points apiece, and junior
Madison Slagle (Rome/Rome Catholic) had 10 for the Red Dragons, who shot 41 percent from three-point range. Bucci went 3-for-5 from behind the arc.
Szkotak hit a three-pointer with 3 minutes, 48 seconds left in the first half to give the Red Dragons the lead for keeps at 25-22. Szkotak hit two more jumpers during a 9-2 run to end the first half as the Red Dragons took a 31-24 lead into halftime.
Bucci hit a three-pointer with 16:37 left in the second half to increase Oneonta’s lead was 41-27. The Red Dragons' lead grew to 49-29 on a
Mary Kate O'Connell (Altamont/Guilderland) jumper with 13:10 to play. Heidelberg never drew closer than 14 thereafter.
Slagle and Bucci grabbed eight rebounds apiece as Oneonta finished with a 48-29 rebounding advantage.
Dec. 21st vs. Babson, L 51-60 (Las Vegas Hoopla Tournament)
In a battle of two undefeated teams, the No. 6 Babson Beavers bested the Red Dragons by the score of 61-50. The loss was Oneonta’s first set back of the season.
Despite 21 points and 10 rebounds from Szkotak, the Beavers got 24 points and 14 boards from Nicki Wurdeman, who received 13 points and 13 rebounds from Kathleen King.
The teams entered halftime deadlocked at 26 before Oneonta took a 30-27 lead early in the second half. Babson followed with an 11-0 run and stayed ahead the rest of the way.
The Beavers held a 54-44 lead with 1 minute, 9 seconds to play, but the Red Dragons pulled to 55-50 with 26 seconds left with the help of two three-pointers from Slagle. Babson capped its victory with a 6-0 run as Wurdeman, Allanah Wynn (10 points) and Damisi Adewumi each went 2-for-2 at the free throw line.
Slagle sank a game-high five three-pointers en route to 18 points for the Red Dragons, who received three blocks from O'Connell.
The women are off now until Friday, Jan. 7, when it hosts Fredonia for a SUNY Athletic Conference game beginning at 6 p.m. The Red Dragons are 2-0 in the SUNYAC.
After the game, the women took time to visit a local nursing home to spread some Holiday cheer with the residents. They visited the Torrey Pines Care Center, which is a short term, episodic medical and rehabilitative care center.
The women spent most of the afternoon there assisting the patients with lunch, serving cookies and singing Holiday carols. The team split themselves into two groups; one group visiting the permanent care patients and the other group visiting with short-term patients.
