Box Score PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – When the Plattsburgh State women’s basketball team finally returned to its home court after a lengthy – and largely disappointing – five-game road stretch, they were hoping to reenter the SUNYAC playoff chase by improving their play on the floor of Memorial Hall.
On Saturday afternoon, the Cardinals made some significant progress toward that particular goal.
Kathleen Payne scored a team-high 17 points and the Cardinals scored 13 points on 26 turnovers by SUNY Geneseo to upend the Knights – who sat in second-place in the SUNYAC standing - by a score of 53-49 on Saturday afternoon in Memorial Hall.
Geneseo – who had won 17 of their last 19 meetings with the Cardinals – had won seven of its last eight games prior to storming Memorial Hall and boasted the top rebounding club in the 10-team SUNYAC. Although they did win the battle of the boards by a 44-33 margin, Plattsburgh State (11-11, 7-8 SUNYAC) flustered the Knights (16-6, 12-4 SUNYAC) for 40 minutes with a brand of tenacious defense.
Misha Green got Plattsburgh State going with a long two-point jumper for the first points of the game just 59 seconds in. One of the primary storylines of the first half, though, was the strong offensive play of Geneseo’s Melissa Graham.
In the first half alone, Graham netted 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including a 3-of-5 mark from beyond the arc. That first 20 minutes was largely back-and-forth though, with the Cardinals registering their largest lead of the stanza after a 5-0 run.
Knotted at 14-all, Brittany Marshall rose up from downtown and buried her only triple of the game before Brooke Reifinger drilled a mid-range jumper over three minutes later to make matters 19-14 Plattsburgh State.
Graham, though, netted 10 consecutive points for the Knights to help the visitors close the half on a 13-2 run and take a 27-21 lead into the halftime break. Still, the Cardinals kept it close by forcing 17 turnovers in that opening frame.
The Knights greeted Plattsburgh State in the deciding frame by pounding the ball inside to Shannon McGinnis, who gave Geneseo its largest lead of the game, 29-21, just 1:34 into the period before the Cardinals soared back into the thick of things.
It was Green again with another deep two that kick-started a 7-0 Plattsburgh State run to pull the Cardinals within one, 29-28, with 14:12 to go. Instead of performing in the role of scoring machine as she did on Friday, Marshall seemed more content to rack up the assists as she collected two of her game-high eight during that mini-surge.
After Geneseo re-fortified its lead, Payne and Dana Nucaro drilled back-to-back long balls to pull within one once again. Buckets by Reifinger and Tequilla Lloyd put the Cardinals on top 40-39 with 8:42 to go.
Allison McKenna gave the Knights their final advantage of the game by banking home a layup that made it 39-38 on the next Geneseo possession. Lloyd hit an additional short jumper on the next Plattsburgh State possession and Yazmin Lewis emerged off the bench to help the Cardinals in their quest for victory.
The 5-10 sophomore netted all four of her points in the second half and came up with a big blocked shot and a crucial offensive rebound in that same frame. After Lewis buried her pair of free throws, Lloyd evaded the Knights on an inbounds pass en route to an easy layup that put Plattsburgh State up by seven, 48-41, with 3:15 to go.
Graham and McKenna provided the final charge for Geneseo as it got to within 50-47 with 1:15 to go, but Payne shut the door on any type of comeback attempt on the next Plattsburgh State possession.
Catherine Cassidy slung a cross-court pass to the junior, who pulled up from downtown and swished her trey with 48 seconds left, effectively sealing the deal.
In addition to her team-high point harvest, Payne ran down a team-high seven rebounds while picking up an assist and a pair of steals.
Cassidy let her defense do the talking, snatching a game-high five steals and racking up four of Plattsburgh State’s 17 assists.
Graham was the only Knight to reach double figures as she scored a game-high 19. Nyisha Lewis hauled in a game-high nine rebounds for the visitors.
Plattsburgh State edged out the Knights in field goal percentage (35.5 percent to 33.3 percent) and three-point percentage (26.3 percent to 23.8 percent). Aside from their rebounding advantage, the only other statistical category where the Knights outperformed the Cardinals was free throw shooting (10-of-14, 71.4 percent).
With three games remaining in their regular season schedule, the Cardinals are tied for the sixth and final league playoff spot with Buffalo State. Plattsburgh State can increase their standing in the league with a win against Potsdam on Tuesday. The battle for North Country supremacy will begin at 6 p.m. in Memorial Hall.
