Box Score NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Home victories for the Plattsburgh State women's basketball team haven't exactly been scarce commodities so far during the 2013-14 campaign.

Triumphs outside the walls of Memorial Hall, though, have been substantially more difficult to obtain for the Cardinals. Until Tuesday night, that is.

 A 13-5 run over the final 4:23 of the game allowed Plattsburgh State (4-2) to pull away from a pesky Norwich squad to earn a 65-57 non-conference conquest over the Cadets (3-3) at Andrews Hall.

Once again, the Cardinals thrived off the turnovers they caused, netting 22 points off of an equal number of throwaways by the home-standing Cadets.

A mere 19 seconds after the opening tip occurred, the Cadets took their first lead of the game when Kristin Brown drilled a mid-range jumper thanks to a sharp pass by Heather LeBlanc. Reigning State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Player of the Week Kathleen Payne fired right back, though, scoring six straight points through the course of an 8-0 surge by the visitors over the next 4:44.

Unimpressed, the Cadets employed a 9-2 offensive blitz of their own to regain the lead at 9-8 with 11:08 remaining in the opening half. A back-and-forth battle ensued with the squads exchanging advantages before a 6-0 run that took place almost entirely from the charity stripe allowed Plattsburgh State to take a 20-16 lead with 5:58 to go in the frame.

Payne and sophomore Devona Paul each sank a pair of free throws before Norwich scoring machine Aliah Curry trimmed the Cardinals' edge to 22-20 with two foul line makes of her own. The freshman connection of Jax Miller and Jessica Dolan pushed the Cardinals' margin up to four once again when Dolan rattled home a short jumper thanks to an assist from her Argyle, N.Y., classmate.

Norwich, though, made it a point to pound the ball inside possession after possession after Dolan's jumper. That strategy proved more than effective, as the Cadets went on a 9-0 run behind the power of three layups and an additional trio of swishes at the foul line.

Inside the final minute of the initial 20-minute period, Marshall was able to diminish the Norwich lead when the Malone, N.Y., junior connected on her second long-range basket of the half, allowing her squad to jog to their locker room trailing 31-27.

Much like she did in the opening stanza, Payne quickly pulled the Cardinals back into the game, hitting back-to-back jumpers before sophomore Stephanie Linder – playing collegiate basketball in the state of Vermont for the first time after defecting from Castleton State last season – put the wraps on the 7-0 spurt by banking home a layup after a crisp pass from Marshall.

Directly after another LeBlanc make from in close, Linder stretched the Cardinals' lead to 37-33 by draining a long ball with 15:09 to go in the game. From there, the Cadets vowed to put up a stiffer defensive presence, and that is exactly what happened. For over four minutes, the Cardinals didn't score another point, going 0-of-7 from the field and committing four turnovers.

That let the Cadets net the next six markers to take a 39-37 lead with 11:03 remaining. Again, the squad would go on to exchange baskets, as well as leads, before Norwich grabbed their final advantage of the night when Curry canned another pair of free throws with 5:55 to go to make things 51-50.

Payne knocked down a triple and Marshall followed up with one of her own after LeBlanc sunk another layup to give the Cardinals a lead they wouldn't relinquish. Kelsey Lotti shaved the Cardinals' advantage down to 55-54 with 3:59 left, but those points were the last ones the Cadets would put on the board for the next 3:08.

Consecutive layups from Misha Green and Linder allowed the Cardinals' lead to balloon to 59-54 with 2:15 left. Plattsburgh State's defense held up its end of the bargain, forcing the Cadets to go 0-for-4 from the field before they would finally score again. At that point, though, less than one minute remained and the Cardinals closed out the win by going 6-for-8 from the free throw line.

Payne led a balanced Plattsburgh State attack with a game-high 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting. Marshall added 16 along with a game-high nine assists while Linder chipped in 13 to go along with three helpers and two of the Cardinals' 12 blocked shots.

Curry led the Cadets with 16 points while Lotti and LeBlanc added 15 and 11 respectively. The squads put up similar shooting numbers, with the Cardinals hitting 34.9 percent (22-of-63) of their shots and the Cadets making good on 21 of their 59 attempts (35.6 percent). Both squads amassed 39 rebounds.

Now, the Cardinals will look to stretch their winning streak to five games when SUNYAC play commences this weekend. Plattsburgh State will make the trip to archrival Oswego State for a 6 p.m. tip-off on Friday night before closing the books on their first league weekend in Cortland for a 2 p.m. bout with the Red Dragons on Saturday.