Alaina Lynch scored a career-high 12 points and added career bests of four assists and four steals (Darl Zehr Photography)
CORTLAND, N.Y. - Alaina Lynch (Staten Island/Staten Island Tech) recorded career highs of 12 points and four steals and matched her career best with four assists as Cortland defeated visiting Wells, 69-54, in a non-league contest.
The Red Dragons played their final non-league game of the regular season and improved their record to 11-6. Wells, led by head coach Tara Ruckh and assistant coach Erin Wolstenholme - both former Cortland players - is now 5-12 with the loss.
Lynch made 3-of-6 shots from the floor and all six of her free throws. Kristy Vitucci (Deer Park) also scored 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from 3-point range, and Justine Crespo (Monroe/Monroe-Woodbury) finished with nine points, 10 rebounds and three steals.
Also for the Red Dragons, Shana Crespo (Monroe/Monroe-Woodbury) and Tanna Mohammed (Huntington/Elwood-John H. Glenn) scored eight points apiece, Becca Krenzer (Pavilion/Batavia-Notre Dame) finished with six points and career-high tying totals of four rebounds and two blocks, and Taylor Miller (Freeport) amassed six points, five assists and four rebounds.
Kamarie Maturine matched her career high for Wells with 22 points on 11-of-18 shooting and also grabbed seven rebounds. Carley Ryan added nine points, eight rebounds and four assists and Yanna Ososkalo matched Ryan with four assists.
Cortland led 12-7 after one quarter and 34-25 at halftime. Wells, however, opened the third quarter on an 11-0 run, capped by a Ryan 3-pointer that gave the Express a 36-34 lead with 6:27 left in the period. The Red Dragons were down 40-38 before going on an 11-0 run over the final three and a half minutes.
Lynch tied the game with a layup off a Miller feed, and Vitucci buried a 3-pointer to put Cortland up 43-40. S. Crespo scored four of the final six points in the period, sandwiched around two Lynch foul shots, and the Red Dragons led 49-40 entering the fourth.
Krenzer hit two shots in the first minute and a half of the fourth to extend Cortland's lead to 53-40. Wells got back to within single digits once the rest of the way at 60-51 after a Shelby Medovich 3-pointer with 3:46 left, but Miller scored on a driving layup on the Red Dragons' next possession and the lead remained in double figures the rest of the game.
Cortland held a 32-8 advantage in points off the bench, led by Lynch's 12 points and Mohammed's eight.
Cortland travels to Brockport on Friday at 5:30 p.m. for a SUNYAC contest.
