NEW YORK – Going toe-to-toe with its first of three top-25 opponents of the 2014-15 campaign, the Plattsburgh State women's basketball team traded blows with No. 15/17 ranked New York University before succumbing to a large second-half run by the Violets and dropping an 86-70 decision in the championship game of the NYU Tip-Off Tournament on Sunday afternoon at the Coles Sports Center.
Doing all she could to help the Cardinals in their quest for a 2-0 start was senior Brittany Marshall who finished with a game-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting. As a team, the Cardinals shot the ball at a 40.3 percent (27-of-67) clip, but the depth and experience of the Violets eventually wore Plattsburgh State down.
Instead of trying to force the issue down low against NYU's interior defenders, Plattsburgh State took up residence from beyond the three-point arc and thrived from there early on.
The Violets netted the first two markers of the game, but Marshall and junior Stephanie Linder canned back-to-back long balls which gave Plattsburgh State a 6-2 lead just 2:07 into the non-conference fight.
NYU managed to tie things up with a 4-0 burst, but fortunately for the Cardinals, Allie Taylor picked up right where she left off the previous afternoon and launched a 6-0 Plattsburgh State run with a layup. Marshall followed suit with one of her own before sophomore Jessica Dolan took a pinpoint pass from Taylor and connected on a fast-break jumper.
With an upset bid fresh in their minds, the Cardinals kept the pedal to the metal. Taylor netted four more points before Devona Paul cleaned up a Dolan misfire and laid the ball in to put the Cardinals up 18-10.
First-year player Shawna Thornton showed up with a three-point splashdown before sophomore Jax Miller pulled up from midrange and swished a jumper of her own. Miller's hit handed the Cardinals their largest lead of the game, 23-12, with 9:31 to go in the opening frame.
Unbeknownst to the Cardinals, NYU was plotting a comeback and employed the first stages of its plan to regain the lead by using the three-point shot. Amy Harioka set up shop from downtown and knocked down consecutive trifectas to kick-start a 17-0 NYU run.
The Cardinals couldn't keep up with the Violets during that stretch, going 0-fot-6 from the field and committing four turnovers. Emily Rowe sank a layup with 6:07 remaining in the first half which put NYU on top for good.
Forced to watch as the Violets' edge grow to as many as six points, Plattsburgh State finally put a halt to the sizable scoring burst when Taylor took a trip to the charity stripe and knocked down a pair of attempts.
Their offense finally coming around after a lengthy break, the Cardinals chipped away at the Violets' lead, eventually shrinking it all the way down to one when Thornton split a pair of free throws as the clock showed 1:31.
That was as close as the Cardinals would come, though, as NYU pumped in five of the last six points in the opening stanza to take a 38-33 edge into the halftime break.
Marshall represented two-thirds of the Cardinals total offensive output in the first 3:10 of the deciding frame. The Malone, N.Y., product rattled home a pair of mid-range jumpers to pull Plattsburgh State within one – 40-39 – for the final time.
From there, the Violets seized control of matters by employing a 10-0 run which featured scores from a trio of players. Marshall and Paul combined for the next seven Plattsburgh State points to keep the Cardinals within shouting distance (54-46), but the balance and dominant interior game of the Violets continued to keep the visitors off-balance.
A 46-24 edge in points in the paint belonged to the nationally-ranked home squad who increased its lead to as many as 19 by the time the final horn sounded.
Megan Dawe amassed a team-high 19 points for the Violets to lead a quintet of NYU players who finished with 10 or more markers. Kaitlyn Read added a 13-point, 11-rebound double-double for the home squad who shot 47.7 percent (31-of-65) from the field including a scorching 17-of-28 (60.7 percent) mark in the final frame.
Taylor finished with 14 points in another excellent outing for the Cardinals while Paul chipped in 11 and a team-best eight rebounds.
On Wednesday night, the Cardinals will receive the opportunity to play in front of their home crowd for the first time in 2014-15. A non-conference confrontation with Norwich University (1-1) is on tap for Plattsburgh State with the opening tip slated for 7 p.m.
