Alyssa Crosby hit 4-of-5 3-pointers and finished with 17 points and five rebounds (Photo: Darl Zehr Photography)
GENESEO, N.Y. – Katie Durand and Sara Ciotti led a balanced attack with 11 points apiece as unbeaten and nationally 16th-ranked Geneseo defeated Cortland, 63-43, in the SUNYAC women's basketball tournament semifinals.
Alyssa Crosby (Brier Hill/Hammond) scored a game-high 17 points for Cortland, which finishes the season 13-14. Crosby made 4-of-5 shots from 3-point range and also grabbed five rebounds. Cassidy Chapko (Valley Falls/Hoosic Valley) made two 3-pointers and ended with seven points and three assists, and Stephanie Rice (Duanesburg) scored six points and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.
Geneseo (26-0) will host New Paltz in the SUNYAC title game Saturday at 4 p.m. The Knights shot 56 percent from the floor, including 47 percent (8-of-17) from the 3-point arc. Cortland finished at 39 percent from the floor and 43 percent (6-of-14) from long distance.
Cortland kept Geneseo off the scoreboard for almost five minutes to start the game, but only managed to take a 5-0 lead during that stretch on a Chapko 3-pointer in the first 30 seconds and a Rice layup at the 5:36 mark. The Knights went on a 14-2 run over the next five minutes to go up 14-7, with Chapko's 3-pointer with seven seconds left keeping Cortland within 14-10 at the quarter break.
The hosts extended their lead to 30-13 in the first seven minutes of the second quarter. Cortland pulled back within 10 on a Samantha Roberts (North Syracuse/Cicero-North Syracuse) jumper, a Crosby 3-pointer and a Kristy Vitucci (Deer Park) layup, but Katie Vienneau hit a jumper with three seconds left and Geneseo led by 12 at halftime.
The Knights scored the first 10 points of the third quarter to go up by 20 and led by 19 after three quarters. The lead remained at least that high the entire fourth period.
Bridgit Ryan chipped in with nine points on 4-of-5 shooting and McKenna Brooks grabbed seven rebounds and recorded three steals for the Knights.
