Box Score PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – Forget playing for 40 minutes. The Plattsburgh State women's basketball team got the job done in 20.

Kathleen Payne scored 12 of her game-high 27 points in a 52-point second half performance for the Cardinals who were able to run away from St. Lawrence and coast to their first victory of the 2013-14 season in an 88-59 triumph in Memorial Hall on Tuesday night.

Blistering the nets in the final 20-minute stanza, Plattsburgh State (1-2) connected on 21 of their 36 field goal attempts (58.3 percent) while limiting the Saints (1-2) – who were selected as the preseason favorites in the Liberty League – to an 8-of-32 (25 percent) performance in that same span.

Payne, who hails from Goshen, N.Y., shot 12-of-23 (52.2 percent) from the field and hauled down six rebounds to go along with four of the Cardinals' 20 assists during the tilt. With the victory, Plattsburgh State emerged victorious over St. Lawrence on back-to-back occasions for the first time in school history. 

Although they were competing on their home floor for the first time this season, the Cardinals were forced to battle through a sluggish start that saw them fall behind by as many as five points early on. The Saints came out eager to bury the home squad, taking a 7-2 lead 3:04 into the tilt after a pair of layups sandwiched a triple by Kara McDuffee.

Plattsburgh State was able to draw even on a fast break layup by junior Brittany Marshall and a long ball by sophomore Stephanie Linder – who was making her first start in a Plattsburgh State uniform. Another play from Linder was how the Cardinals captured one of their two leads in the opening frame.

The Cadyville, N.Y., product swindled the rock from St. Lawrence forward Kelly Legg and raced the length of the floor before connecting on a layup and draining a free throw after being fouled by Legg.

Legg, though, returned the favor with an old-fashioned three-point play of her own on the ensuing St. Lawrence possession before Mishe Green found sophomore Devona Paul who banked in a layup from close range to put the Cardinals in front 14-13 with 13 minutes remaining in the first half.

St. Lawrence continued to rely on a heavy dose of Legg on the offensive end of the floor, who gave the Saints the lead for the rest of the half with yet another layup before venturing out to the perimeter and swishing her first of three three-pointers on the evening.

Grabbing their largest lead of the game when another long-range basket from McDuffee gave the visitors a 36-29 advantage with 2:50 to go in the opening frame, the Saints looked intent on pushing their lead to double-digits. That, however, did not transpire due to the play of Payne and Marshall.

While the Cardinals' defense was busy forcing the Saints into a trio of turnovers and an 0-for-1 field goal mark over those final minutes, the aforementioned duo of upperclassmen managed to knot matters at 36 headed to the halftime break.

Marshall converted on a layup before being fouled by Allison Cady whereupon the Malone, N.Y., product hit a free throw to trim the deficit to four. Payne added a pull-up jumper of her own to the cause during the next Plattsburgh State possession before receiving a slick pass from Linder and rattling home a layup with 34 ticks left on the clock.

Making one last bid for victory in the fledgling minutes of the deciding frame, the Saints took another six-point lead thanks to back-to-back triples by Legg and McDuffee. That's when the Cardinals started to heat up from everywhere on the floor.
The home squad embarked on an 18-2 surge which saw Marshall net the final seven points on a pair of layups and her first long ball of the contest. A three-point play by Cady trimmed the Cardinals' lead to 57-50 with 13:05 to play but five minutes later the game was effectively finished.

A layup from Tequilla Lloyd began a 20-2 run for the home team over the next 301 seconds where the Cardinals went 8-of-10 from the field and 2-of-2 from the free throw stripe. The Cardinals defense, which forced the Saints to hit just 1-of-12 field goals during that stretch, seemed to feed its offense as numerous fast break opportunities were created as Plattsburgh State ran the Saints ragged.

Plattsburgh State's sizable lead never dipped below 23 for the remainder of the game, while 23 St. Lawrence turnovers translated to 25 points by the home squad. Marshall added 14 markers while Paul chipped in 13 and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

Legg led the Saints with 14 points while Caroline Dalton added 13 and McDuffee 12. Plattsburgh State out-rebounded St. Lawrence 46-30 and finished the game shooting at a clip of 50 percent (35-of-70) compared to 35.6 percent (21-of-59) by the visitors.

Continuing their three-game home stand, the Cardinals host Morrisville State on Saturday night at 6 p.m. in the opening game of the Hampton Inn/Microtel Cardinal Classic. That tilt is the first of two on the opening night of the four-team tournament with Clarkson and Lebanon Valley scheduled to take the court at 8 p.m. The winners of those two games will meet at 3 p.m. on Sunday to battle for the title of Cardinals Classic champion.