Box Score PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. - To be the best, you have to beat the best. In the recent history of the SUNYAC Women's Basketball Championship Tournament, the best has been exemplified by SUNY Cortland. 

The Red Dragons have been fixtures in the annual postseason tournament and head coach Jeannette Mosher had compiled a 30-11 record in it during her 16 seasons at the Cortland helm. 

Plattsburgh State, though, didn't really care about the Red Dragons' gaudy tournament record. Or the fact that the Cardinals were just 4-54 all-time against Cortland heading into Friday night's game. Or the painful 27-point loss the Red Dragons handed the Cardinals the last time these two teams crossed paths. 

The only thing the Cardinals were concerned about was getting to the SUNYAC Championship Tournament finals for the first time. And nothing - not even the Red Dragons - could stand in their way.

Brittany Marshall scored 14 of her game-high 21 points in the second half and the Cardinals (21-5) stayed ahead of the Red Dragons (16-11) for virtually the entire second half to earn an emotional 69-61 victory in the second semifinal game of the 2014 SUNYAC Women's Basketball Championship Tournament on Friday night in Memorial Hall. 

The road ahead is uncharted for the Cardinals, who will now play in their first SUNYAC Tournament Finals on Saturday afternoon. Number-three seeded SUNY Geneseo, who trounced Buffalo State 75-58 in the other semifinal game and finished as the runner-up in the tournament last season, will oppose Plattsburgh State at 4 p.m.

Plattsburgh State forced 24 turnovers by the Red Dragons who were led by 21 points from Grace Williamson.

Williamson put the first points of the tilt on the board when she slipped past the Cardinals' interior defense for an easy layup just 12 seconds into the semifinal meeting. Looking to energize its sizable home congregation, the Cardinals used a 14-6 run over the next 4:31 to gain their largest advantage of the first half. 

All told, each member of the Cardinals' starting five scored at least two points during the surge. Senior Kathleen Payne led the charge by putting in six of her 13 during that stretch. Misha Green capped off the run with a swish from the foul line, making the score 14-8 with 15:17 to go in the first stanza. 

Swiftly taking control back from the Cardinals, the Red Dragons set off on a 13-2 which finished with a layup and a triple from Phoebe Byrnes. Needing to come back from a 21-16 deficit with 9:48 left in the first half, the Cardinals turned to Marshall who put in five of the next nine points for the home squad to put Plattsburgh State on top for the final time in the period. 

Five consecutive markers by the Red Dragons made the Cardinals' 25-24 edge seem like a distant memory, and the Cortland lead grew to 34-29 after a Megan Touhey layup with 1:21 to go in the frame. With the offense sputtering, the Cardinals turned to long-limbed sophomore Stephanie Linder to put the brakes on Cortland's scoring run.

The Cadyville, N.Y., product launched and connected on a triple before sinking an extremely difficult runner in traffic with eight seconds remaining in the half to bring the Cardinals even at 34. 

Through the final 20 minutes, the Red Dragons owned the lead for just 25 seconds. Another long-range hit from Touhey put Cortland up 38-36 2:03 into the frame, but Devona Paul knotted things at 38-all by hitting a pair of free throws on the very next Plattsburgh State possession. 

After trading baskets that saw the lead go even twice more, Linder put the Cardinals up for good with a three-point field goal with 12:15 to go. That long-range connection instigated an 8-0 run that saw Payne hit a mid-range jumper and her sole trifecta of the night which forced the Red Dragons to call a time out with 8:45 remaining in the game. 

The Cardinals' 51-43 edge was trimmed to 51-48 after another Williamson field goal and a three-point play by Touhey, but Linder drilled another trey to halt Cortland's run. 

With 2:58 to go, Williamson swished another jumper to whittle Plattsburgh State's edge down to 58-55 but a one-in-a-million shot from Payne took the wind out of the Red Dragons' sails. Driving toward the rim, the Goshen, N.Y., turned her back toward the basket in an attempt to draw a foul. Furthering her attempt, she was sent to the ground but not before flipping up and hitting a wild circus shot to sent the Plattsburgh State crows into a frenzy.

A three-point play by Williamson proved to by the Red Dragons' last gasp, as a Misha Green jumper made matters 62-58 Cardinals with two minutes to go. Marshall closed things out by going 7-of-8 from the free throw stripe in the final minutes. 

Linder (14) and Payne (13) were the other two Cardinals who pumped in over 10 points during the bout. Touney (12) and Caysea Cohen (11) rounded out the main scorers for the Red Dragons.  

The Cardinals enjoyed a 38-35 edge in the rebounding department and went 16-of-23 (69.6 percent) from the free throw line. Cortland connected on 41.8-percent of its field goal attempts while the Cardinals hit 39-percent (23-of-59) of the shots they tried.