Box Score POTSDAM, N.Y. – Mired in a frustrating three-game losing streak that culminated with a season-low field goal percentage in front of its home faithful, the Plattsburgh State women’s basketball team was looking to rebound by hitting the road to shut down an opposing team on its own floor.
Unfortunately for the SUNY Potsdam Bears, they had to absorb the full brunt of this pent-up basketball frustration.
Kathleen Payne led all scorers with 15 points and Plattsburgh State (9-7, 5-4 SUNYAC) outscored the Bears 36-8 in the second half en route to a 73-32 throttling of SUNY Potsdam (1-15, 0-9 SUNYAC) at Jerry Welsh Gymnasium on Tuesday night.
Plattsburgh State absolutely scorched the nets, hitting 31 of their 56 (55.4 percent) field goal attempts in the one-sided affair. Of the 31 baskets made by the Cardinals, 21 were assisted on and Plattsburgh State also bullied the Bears on the boards, owning a 47-26 edge in that department by the time the league tilt had concluded.
The 41-point margin of victory was the third-largest in program history and the most lopsided win since the Cardinals bested Hilbert by a score of 81-32 to begin the 2007-08 campaign.
The battle for North Country supremacy began with Katy Briedis knocking down a three-pointer for the home squad, staking Potsdam to an early 3-0 lead. That advantage, though, was just one of two the Bears would possess in the infancy of the game.
Despite a start that included a 0-for-4 mark from the field and three turnovers in the first 3:16 of action, the Cardinals finally got on the board when Brittany Marshall found Dana Nucaro under the basket for Plattsburgh State’s first points of the tilt.
Needing 36 more points to become the eighth women’s basketball player in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau, Kathleen Payne wasted little time in moving closer to that accomplishment. The junior scored eight of the next 10 points for the Cardinals, giving the visiting squad a 14-11 advantage with 11:23 remaining in the first stanza.
After Potsdam knotted matters for the final time, Marshall and Johni Coryea joined forces to put the Cardinals up for good. Marshall rattled home a triple before Coryea came off the bench to score the next five points for Plattsburgh State, making it a 22-18 lead for the Cardinals with 7:49 to go in the first 20 minutes.
Assailing the Bears from all angles, six different players contributed points in a 15-6 stretch by the Cardinals to close out the first half of play. A 15-of-30 mark from the field was a large reason why Plattsburgh State was able to keep the Bears at arm’s length for the majority of the opening frame.
Potsdam hit just one field goal in the first 12:32 of the deciding frame and the Cardinals came away with five of their six blocked shots in the final 20 minutes of action. The staunch Plattsburgh State defense limited SUNY Potsdam to a miserable 2-of-27 (7.4 percent) mark from the field in the second half.
Marshall was one assist away from a double-double as she passed out a game-high nine to go along with 10 points. Nucaro finished with 12 points and a pair of blocked shots while Brooke Reifinger hauled in a game-high nine rebounds.
Devona Paul and Coryea chipped in eight points each for the Cardinals while the former amassed a game-high three blocked shots. Coryea was 2-of-3 from beyond the arc and had a game-high three steals.
Jessica Kouzan led SUNY Potsdam with 14 points. The Bears shot 13-of-57 (22.8 percent) from the field during the game and just 3-of-20 (15 percent) from three-point range.
With nine games remaining in their regular season schedule, the Cardinals will embark on their longest SUNYAC road trip of the year this weekend. Plattsburgh State head to Buffalo State on Friday and will look to earn a season sweep of the Bengals when the game tips off at 6 p.m.
