Following a 52-45 road victory in late January, the SUNY Cortland women’s basketball team has a winning reputation to uphold this Friday. They will go head-to-head with Oneonta for the second time this season. The Red Dragons are currently 12-1 within the conference (SUNYAC), having only lost one game against the top ranked in the league, New Paltz.
Cortland played Oneonta earlier in the season, where they held them to just 2 points in the final 8 minutes. The group ended the game victorious, with a lot of help from Emily Morano who finished with a game-high of 15 points, 9 which were scored in the final 4 minutes.
Morano was named SUNYAC’s women’s basketball player of the week following the win.
“It felt very rewarding to earn SUNYAC women’s basketball player of the week, it’s an achievement that is strived for, though this award wouldn’t have been given to me if my surrounding teammates did not assist in getting the job done to beat Oneonta,” said Morano.
Cortland traveled to Oneonta in late January, where Oneonta did take an early lead. However, Cortland went on a run late in the second quarter, leaving them only trailing by 3 going into the half. At the start of the 4th quarter, the teams were tied. That was until Morano went on a run late in the game to allow the group to pull ahead. Can this momentum help them pull through with another win this week?
“I think the late spark to finish the game and this matchup being tough that energy will most definitely help keep the momentum and push for us to win this upcoming weekend’s games,” said Morano.
Cortland has had an extremely successful season up until this point, heading into Friday’s matchup on a 3-game win streak. They have continued to show opponents that they are a strong team, on both ends of the court. Their strong defense was one of the key components that kept them in the game last time the group faced Oneonta. So, what needs to improve to ensure that they can pull out yet another conference win?
Morano said the girls have been putting in a lot of work at practice this week leading up to the game.
“Practice this week has been tough, and adjustments have been made for us to dominate both ends of the floor,” said Morano. “Defensive efforts were a key focal point this week which will put us in a much better position to come out on top.Against a team like Oneonta, I think we struggled to score, resulting in putting our effort into the defensive ends of the floor.”
The SUNY Cortland women’s basketball team will host Oneonta this Friday at 5:30p.m.
“As a team we are both mentally and physically prepared for Fridays matchup, we have had great practices this week that have us feeling very confident for Friday’s tip-off,” Morano said.
They are going into the game confidently and feeding off energy from earlier in the season.
This momentum has shown them a ton of success not only in conference play, but against all opponents. Will Cortland be able to pull out another win on their home court? It will be exciting to see how the battle of Red Dragons plays out.