Box Score GENESEO, N.Y. – Junior forward Kathleen Payne had a game-high 25 points, but the Cardinals suffered from some untimely offensive outages in a 77-68 loss to SUNYAC enemy SUNY Geneseo on Friday night at Schrader Gymnasium.
The Knights made good on just over 50 percent (28-of-55) of their field goal attempts while the Cardinals were held to 41.7 percent (25-of-60) from the field.
In the battle between two clubs tied for third place in the SUNYAC, the Cardinals fell to 7-4 and 3-2 in league confrontations while the Knights improved to 8-3 and 4-1 in conference play.
Not wanting a repeat performance of their early-game offensive struggles, the Cardinals wasted little time putting points on the visitor’s side of the scoreboard. Brittany Marshall rattled home her first three-point attempt of the evening thanks to a pass from Brooke Reifinger, giving the Cardinals one of their two first half leads at 3-2.
Inserted into the starting five for the first time this season, Tequilla Lloyd knocked down a pair of short jumpers just 36 seconds apart that gave the Cardinals a 7-4 advantage with 16:06 remaining in the opening 20-minute frame.
From there, the Knights went on a 9-0 run to take control of the first half. Four different players tallied points during the spurt where the Cardinals went 0-for-4 from the field and committed one of their eight first-half turnovers.
Looking at an 18-12 deficit, head coach Cheryl Cole summoned Kathleen Payne from the bench, and the junior was more than up to the task of chipping away at Geneseo’s lead.
Payne put in four consecutive points to pull the Cardinals within two and Marshall added a fast break layup after a free throw make by the Knights to make it a 19-18 game with 6:48 left in the first half, but Geneseo withstood the short flurry and came back with one of their own.
Cara Manfredi single-handedly brought the momentum back to the Knights’ bench, pouring in all eight points during an 8-2 spurt that put the Cardinals down 27-20 with 4:20 to go in the stanza. Manfredi’s run was just a part of a larger 19-7 Geneseo surge that spanned the final 6:48 of the first half, sending the Cardinals to the break in a 38-25 hole.
Instead of mounting a rally early on in the deciding frame, the Cardinals saw their deficit increase to 18 in the first 2:48 after a 5-0 push by the Knights. Fortunately, Payne and the rest of the Cardinals were undaunted by numbers on the scoreboard.
Taking matters into her own hands, Payne tallied 11 of the first 14 points for the Cardinals and led her squad back to within 11 with 12:29 left in the tilt. With the majority of the damage in that stretch done on the interior part of the court, the Cardinals took up residence from beyond the arc to slice further into the Geneseo lead.
After a pair of free throws by Allison McKenna the extended the Geneseo lead to 52-39, Reifinger launched and connected on a three ball before Devona Paul came up with a blocked shot on the defensive end of the floor.
From there, Payne brought the Cardinals back to within single digits, swishing a long ball that made things 52-45 courtesy of an assist from Catherine Cassidy. After Shannon McGinnis and Cassidy swapped downtown makes on the next pair of possessions, the Knights pushed their lead back up to 11 with 8:32 to go.
Jumpers from Yazmin Lewis and Marshall brought Plattsburgh State within seven (59-52), and after another short jumper from the Knights, Misha Green came up with a fast break layup off of a steal before swishing her free throw attempt to make it a 61-55 Geneseo lead with 5:20 to go.
Unfortunately, two quick baskets by the Knights made it a 10 point lead again with 4:02 to go, and the home team went on to ice things thanks to timely field goal makes coupled with effective free throw shooting down the stretch to emerge victorious.
McKenna was one of four Knights in double figures, netting a team-high 20 points. Katie Peterson added 12 while McGinnis and Menfredi chipped in 11 and 10 respectively. Melissa Graham had game-highs in steals (five) and assists (six).
Aside from the score, the squads were fairly even in all other major statistical categories. The Knights held a 34-32 rebounding advantage and the Cardinals had one less turnover (12) than their SUNYAC foes (13).
Aside from Payne, Marshall was the only other Plattsburgh State player in double figures, netting 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Cassidy dished out a team-high four of the Cardinals’ 13 assists.
The Cardinals will look to bounce back on Saturday afternoon as they head for Brockport to take on the Golden Eagles. The SUNYAC bout is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.
