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Cortland Defeats New Paltz, 51-45, to Win SUNYAC Title
| Cortland Defeats New Paltz, 51-45, to Win SUNYAC Title |
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| Monday, 01 March 2010 17:39 | |||
 CORTLAND, N.Y. – Tournament Most Valuable Player Jessica Laing (Bloomville/South Kortright) scored 15 points and grabbed 16 rebounds as Cortland won the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) women’s basketball tournament with a 51-45 victory over New Paltz. The Red Dragons (25-3) won their 20th straight game and earned an automatic berth into the NCAA Div. III tournament. Pairings will be announced Monday afternoon. Cortland captured its seventh league tournament title and first since 2007. New Paltz (18-10) was playing in the SUNYAC finals for the first time. The Hawks were led by senior Kristen Caban (Staten Island/Saint Joseph Hill Academy), who made 6-of-11 three-pointers and scored a game-high 22 points. Laing and Caban were joined on the all-tournament team by Cortland sophomore Micki Volpini (Newfield), New Paltz freshman Alexandra McCullough (Delmar/Bethlehem), Oneonta’s Erika Puffer and Geneseo’s Brittany Finkle. Volpini scored six of her 12 points in the final four and a half minutes and Cortland clinging to a 44-41 lead. McCullough scored only five points in the title game, but tallied 25 points in the Hawks’ 82-79 quadruple overtime win over Oneonta in Friday’s semifinals.  Micki Volpini scored six of her 12 points in the last five minutes and earned a spot on the all-tournament team Laing recorded her 23rd double-double of the season and 77th of her four-year collegiate career. Ten of her rebounds came in the second half. Junior Jennifer Patten (Bainbridge/Bainbridge-Guilford) added nine points and eight rebounds. Caban was the lone New Paltz double-figure scorer. The Hawks were held to 19 percent shooting (5-of-26) from the floor in the second half and 25 percent for the game. Cortland made 43 percent of its shots in the second half but only 34 percent for the game. Neither team led by more than five points for the game’s first 36 minutes. New Paltz was up 14-9 with 13:14 left in the first half and 23-18 with 3:14 left, and the Hawks entered halftime with a 27-23 edge. Caban hit all four of her first-half shots, including three from behind the arc, in a 13-point first half. Cortland took its first lead of the second half at 32-31 on a Jamie Piperato (Thiells/North Rockland) jumper with 14:07 remaining. New Paltz regained the lead 15 seconds later on a Carly Minehan (Albany) jumper, but Patten answered with a layup at the 12:35 mark. Caban’s three-pointer and a Minehan layup put the Hawks ahead at 38-34 with 10:21 left. Cortland tied the game on two Laing free throws and a Mary Bruns (Brooklyn/Bishop Ford) layup, then took the lead for good on a Laing three-pointer from the right wing with 8:33 remaining. New Paltz was still within 44-41 on a Maliqua Fisher (North Babylon) free throw with 5:12 left, but Volpini sank two foul shots with 4:30 left and a jumper with 4:30 remaining to give the Red Dragons their largest lead at 48-41 at the 3:10 mark. Caban’s final three-pointer cut the deficit to four with 2:47 left, but Volpini hit a shot with 2:27 remaining. McCullough’s free throw drew the Hawks within 50-45 with 2:16 left, but neither team scored again until Jen Polan’s (Westhampton/Westhampton Beach) free throw finished the scoring with 23 seconds left.
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