ONEONTA, N.Y. – Trailing by as many as 22 points in the deciding frame, the Plattsburgh State women's basketball team embarked on a furious comeback to cut Oneonta State's lead to seven, but time simply ran out on the Cardinals as they dropped a 58-50 decision to the Red Dragons in Dewar Arena on Friday night.
Pacing the Cardinals in terms of scoring was senior Brittany Marshall who pumped in a game-best 23 points which included six long-range hits. The Malone, N.Y., product was the only Plattsburgh State player who netted more than eight points as the Cardinals hit a season-low 28.3-percent (17-for-60) of their field goal attempts.
With the setback, Plattsburgh State slides to 9-10 and 6-6 in SUNYAC play but still occupies the coveted sixth spot on the conference standings. Oneonta State rises to 12-7 and 7-5 in league confrontations and currently sits in fifth place in the league rankings.
Aside from the fact that Oneonta State was thriving from three-point distance in the early stages of the game, some early turnovers didn't do anything to help matters for the Cardinals. Junior Allie Taylor scored the only two points for the Cardinals in the first 3:44 of the first half.
Caysea Cohen canned a pair of triples for the home team during a 9-2 opening salvo and through the first 11 possessions of the game for Plattsburgh State, the Cardinals registered nine of their 15 turnovers.
Some strong play early on by junior Devona Paul allowed the visitors to remain within shouting distance. The Blauvelt, N.Y., product had a put-back layup and added a free throw minutes later to pull the Cardinals within two, 9-7, with 12:39 to go in the first.
Yet another layup from Paul kept the margin at two points midway through the opening stanza, but in the last 10:24 of the half Plattsburgh State found scores extremely difficult to come by. The Cardinals were allowed just five more points through the rest of the half while the Red Dragons proceeded to use scores from six players to push their lead to 27-15 at the half.
Only six field goals were amassed by the Cardinals in an opening half that saw the visitors hit 22.2-percent (6-for-27) of their shot attempts.
Oneonta State didn't let up in the slightest during the first portion of the deciding 20-minute period. After Paul swished two free throw attempts in the first minute of the half, the Red Dragons launched a 15-3 offensive blitz, the primary culprit of which was Sarah Longto.
She put in five points during the run and three other Red Dragons registered at least two points each to place the Cardinals in a 42-20 hole with 11:57 to go in the game.
Using a 6-1 run which featured a long ball and a free throw from Marshall as well as a layup from Yazmin Lewis, the Cardinals shrunk their deficit to 43-26 at the midway point of the frame, but the home squad applied more offensive pressure and ballooned its edge to 21 with 7:19 remaining.
Over the course of the next six minutes, though, Marshall – as well as sophomore Jessica Dolan – led the Cardinals back into the thick of things. Through the course of a 15-2 Plattsburgh State run, Dolan netted all six of her points on the night while Marshall added eight more.
Marshall's layup with 1:29 to go trimmed the Cardinals' deficit to 51-43 and Stephanie Linder sliced further into the Red Dragons' lead by hitting a layup with 41 ticks left which made it a 52-45 score, but time was no longer on the Cardinals' side.
Longto and Cohen registered 15 points each for the home team while Lyteshia Price yanked down a game-high 10 rebounds.
Dolan and Paul each scored eight points for the Cardinals while Misha Green took to the sky to secure a team-best nine rebounds.
Saturday afternoon will see the Cardinals try to pick up at least one SUNYAC triumph before the weekend wraps up. Plattsburgh State is scheduled to face off against New Paltz at the Hawk Center at 4 p.m.
