PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – When the Plattsburgh State women’s basketball team takes the court to face New Paltz in the SUNYAC Tournament semifinals, it will be 11 years to the day since the last time the Cardinals were one of the last four teams standing in the conference tournament.
As a matter of fact, up until Friday of this year, February 22, 2002 was the only time in program history the Cardinals have gone to the second round of the SUNYAC Tournament.
In order to push its season into historic territory, though, the Cardinals (15-11) will have to take down the number-one overall seed in the tournament, New Paltz (22-3), at the Hawk Center at 8 p.m. on Friday night.
Fortunately, the Cardinals roll into New Paltz as one of the best teams in the SUNYAC over the last three weeks. Carrying the momentum of a five-game winning streak into their first-round SUNYAC playoff game at Oneonta State, the fifth-seeded Cardinals blasted the Red Dragons, 66-52, behind a game-high 26 points from Kathleen Payne.
That victory ran Plattsburgh State’s unbeaten streak to six, and set up the avian clash in New Paltz. Tickets for the semifinal game are $6 for adults, $3 for children 12 and under and free for all SUNY students carrying a valid form of identification.
Fans unable to make the trip to New Paltz can follow the action via live stats and live video provided by the New Paltz sports information department. The links for each service are provided below.
Although the Hawks boast an imposing record, the Cardinals will be undaunted by it. In their first matchup of 2012-13, Plattsburgh State took New Paltz to overtime in Memorial Hall before dropping a 75-71 decision to the SUNYAC regular season champions.
New Paltz once again got the better of the Cardinals in their second matchup, winning by a tally of 72-60 on February 2. Since that loss, the Cardinals are 6-0 and are averaging 64 points per game while limiting the opposition an average of 50.8 points in each of those outings.
The third-leading scorer in the history of the Plattsburgh State women’s basketball program, Payne has been leading the charge for the Cardinals during their recent streak. The reigning SUNYAC Women’s Basketball Player of the Week is averaging a team-high 14.7 points per game and also leads the Cardinals in the rebounding department (6.8 per game).
Only SUNY Geneseo (47.4 per game) has been a better rebounding club than the Cardinals (45.3 per game) this season.
Brittany Marshall and Catherine Cassidy anchor what has been an extremely efficient Plattsburgh State backcourt. Cassidy, a senior, had a career-high 12 points in the win against Oneonta State on Tuesday, but has long been considered one of the best passers in the league. She is third in the SUNYAC with 3.7 assists per game.
Marshall, on the other hand, is equally skilled at both ends of the floor. The 5-5 Malone, N.Y., product leads the 10-team SUNYAC in assists per game (4.6) and scores at a clip of 11 points per game.
The winner of Friday’s semifinal matchup will go on to face the winner of the SUNY Geneseo/Oswego State game in Saturday’s SUNYAC Tournament Championship game at 4 p.m.
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