Box Score POTSDAM, N.Y. – Defense, as the old saying goes, wins championships. On occasion, though, simply possessing superior firepower in the offensive phase of the game can make all the difference.

That was certainly the case for the Plattsburgh State women's basketball team on Tuesday night.

Preventing the ball from going into the basket seemed to be a secondary concern for both teams as Kathleen Payne led all scorers with 28 points while Brittany Marshall tied a Plattsburgh State single-game record with 13 assists to lead the Cardinals past SUNY Potsdam 88-79 at Jerry Welsh Gymnasium.

The most recent Plattsburgh State player to dish out 13 assists in a game was Suzy Paiser who accomplished the feat on Feb. 19, 1994 against Castleton State. Suzanne Souza also totaled 13 helpers in a Feb. 4, 1986 tussle with Norwich.

In improving to 18-5 and 13-3 in SUNYAC confrontations, the Cardinals move into a tie for first place with Buffalo State with two regular season games left on the docket – including their final one against the Bengals themselves.

Plattsburgh State possessed the better field goal percentage (45.6-percent on 31-of-68 shooting) in the high-scoring bout, but the Bears (6-17, 4-12 SUNYAC) enjoyed an accurate evening of their own from the field, connecting on 25 of their 58 field goal attempts (43.1 percent) including nine of 19 hits from long distance (47.4 percent).

Marshall provided the first points of the evening as the Malone, N.Y., product drilled a triple just 12 seconds into the league tilt before the Bears showed off their prowess from beyond the arc.

Eleven of the next 13 points went to the home team, who fed the rock almost exclusively to Jessica Kouzan. Two of the three long balls slung in by the Bears during that stretch came off the hand of Kouzan.

The 11-5 edge was the largest one the Bears would lay claim to in the 40-minute game and forced the Cardinals to play catch-up with their North Country rivals for nearly five minutes.

Trailing 21-17 with 12:36 remaining in the opening half, another Marshall triple – this one coming off an assist from Stephanie Linder – proved to be the catalyst of a 12-0 Plattsburgh State surge that was anchored primarily by Linder.

Continuing the trend of triples, the Cadyville, N.Y., native canned one of her own before registering an old-fashioned three-point play on a hard-nosed drive to the tin. Fellow sophomore Devona Paul capped off the Cardinals' run with an and-one play of her own which put the visitors up 29-21 with 9:48 to go.

Including her three-point play, Paul pumped in 11 of the next 14 Plattsburgh State points. Helping add to the visitors' edge were Payne and Marshall with the former connecting on a three-pointer before the latter pushed Plattsburgh's lead to 42-27 thanks to a pair of free throw makes with 3:43 to go in the opening half.

SUNY Potsdam, though, responded with a 9-0 run over the closing minutes of the frame which trimmed the Cardinals' lead to 42-36 at the half.

On the verge of wasting their once-comfortable advantage, the Cardinals turned to the senior tandem of Payne and Brooke Reifinger early on in the second half. The pair joined forced to score 14 of the first 23 second-half points for the Cardinals during their 23-11 scoring blitz over the first 9:48 of the final frame.

 Armed with an 18-point cushion, Plattsburgh State let its lead drop below 10 points just twice more in the final minutes of the game. Bailey Weigel drew the curtain on a 7-0 spurt for the Bears by banking home a layup to make matters 78-70, but Payne and Reifinger scored the next six points of the game to push Plattsburgh State's lead to 84-70 with 1:45 remaining.

Payne picked up the 20^th double-double of her career by leaping to grab a game-high 10 rebounds. Reifinger's 14 points tied a season high for the Oswego, N.Y., product while Paul added 16 markers on 7-of-10 shooting.

Kouzen led a quartet of Bears who finished with 11 or more points by slinging in 23. Weigel added a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double to SUNY Potsdam's final statistical totals.

With their final regular season road tilt in the books, Plattsburgh State will head back to Memorial Hall for its last pair of regular season SUNYAC bouts. On Friday night, the top two scorers in the conference will cross paths for the first time this season as Becky Hebert (22.8 point per game) leads Fredonia State into Plattsburgh for a meeting with Payne (19.7 points per game) and the Cardinals. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.