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201314WBBDevonaPaul

Women's Basketball Charles Hurley, Assistant Sports Information Director

Cardinals Falter in Second Half, Fall 73-63 at Cortland to Conclude Semester

Sophomore Devona Paul had another big game (18 pts., eight reb., five blocks) for the Cardinals.
Box Score CORTLAND, N.Y. – A pair of women's basketball teams with similar offensive and defensive styles walked into Corey Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon, but Plattsburgh State was the one that found itself on the wrong end of a 73-63 SUNYAC decision.

With the setback, the Cardinals slide to 5-3 and 1-1 in league play while the Red Dragons improved to 6-2 while keeping their conference mark untarnished at 2-0.

Although they wound up with their first SUNYAC setback of the year, the Cardinals enjoyed another pair of great performances by Devona Paul and Kathleen Payne. Paul had a career-high 18 points to go along with eight rebound and five blocked shots. Payne finished with a double-double consisting of 18 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

Facing off against a team that has allowed just 55 points per game to the opposition didn't seem to matter for the Cardinals to begin with. Payne opened the scoring with a deep triple before Grace Williamson netted Cortland's first points off of a layup 50 seconds into the conference tilt.

Much as they did on Friday night, Payne and Paul alternated scoring duties on the first few possessions for the Cardinals. Paul, from Blauvelt, N.Y., gave the visitors their largest lead of the bout after she banked in a layup and put the finishing touches on her three-point play with a swish at the foul line which made matters 10-6 Cardinals with 2:58 elapsed.

Williamson kept the Red Dragons afloat, netting the first six markers of the game for the home team before its defense began to change the face of the tilt.

Directly after Brooke Reifinger cashed in on a layup that made matters 12-8 Plattsburgh State, the Red Dragons clamped down hard on the Cardinals, limiting the visitors to a 1-of-10 mark from the field while forcing six turnovers over the next 8:34.

Making matters worse, SUNY Cortland appeared able to score at will against the Cardinals, jumping out to a 24-15 lead on the strength of a 16-3 offensive blitz during that same span. Reifinger was responsible for the only trio of Plattsburgh State points during their offensive power outage when the Oswego, N.Y., product drilled a triple that knotted the score at 15 with 12:54 remaining in the opening stanza.

Misha Green finally brought the Cardinals' offensive troubles to an end by connecting on a mid-range jumper with 7:42 showing on the first half that trimmed Cortland's edge to 24-17. Paul continued to be a thorn in the side of the Red Dragons, as she joined forces with Green on the offensive end to help the Cardinals claw their way back into the tilt.

The sophomore put in six points while Green added four of her own during a 13-3 stretch for the Cardinals that allowed the visitors to regain the lead, 28-27, with 2:36 to go in the opening half. Cortland's Megan Touhey, though, hit a free throw just 10 seconds later to tie things up.

No more offense would be produced by either squad in the closing minutes of the first half, but Paul put the Cardinals on top for the final time by dropping in a layup 48 seconds into the final half to make things 30-28.

SUNY Cortland responded by scoring on its next pair of possessions to take control of the game for good. The Cardinals were able to trade baskets with the home team through the opening quarter of the final frame, with Payne tying things at 38-all after a layup, but another sizable scoring surge by the Red Dragons put the game out of reach.

Going on a 17-2 offensive streak over the next 5:45, the Red Dragons took a commanding 55-40 lead with 8:35 remaining in the game. During the time frame, the Cardinals went cold once again, hitting just one of their nine field goal attempts and committing a trio of turnovers.

Due to the strength of their free throw shooting, the Cardinals were able to whittle the Red Dragons' advantage down to single digits after Green put the wraps on a 5-of-6 stretch at the stripe by sinking her pair of attempts to make it a 59-51 ballgame with 5:16 to go.

Every time the Cardinals got that margin down to single digits, though, the Red Dragons were able to up it to at least 10 on their next offensive trip. Plattsburgh State got as close as eight points back after Payne drilled a contested long ball with nine seconds remaining, but time would just run out for the visitors.

For the game, the Cardinals were 22-of-66 (33.3 percent) from the field, including a 7-of-29 (24.1 percent) performance from long range, and committed 19 turnovers. They did earn a 45-41 edge in the rebounding department over their league foes.

The Red Dragons hit 25 of their 62 field goal attempts (40.3 percent) and 81.8 percent (18-of22) of their free throws. Touhey led the way with a game-high 19 points while Williamson added 17. Erin Wolstenholme chipped in 12 to round out the main scoring trio.

With their 2013 basketball schedule in the history books, the Cardinals will enjoy a one-month break before taking to the court in a game situation again. On Tuesday, January 7, Plattsburgh State heads into NESCAC territory, taking on Middlebury in Vermont. The non-conference bout is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m.
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