{"id":9911,"date":"2026-02-28T11:27:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T16:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/?p=9911"},"modified":"2026-03-05T16:59:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T21:59:58","slug":"eyes-on-the-prize-cortland-tops-oneonta-65-49","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/2026\/02\/28\/eyes-on-the-prize-cortland-tops-oneonta-65-49\/","title":{"rendered":"Eyes on the Prize, Cortland tops Oneonta 65-49"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

CORTLAND, N.Y. \u2014<\/strong> The Cortland Red Dragons women’s basketball team continues its stellar season and advanced to the conference championship after defeating the SUNY Oneonta Red Dragons women’s basketball 65\u201349 in the semifinals of the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) tournament on Feb. 27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cortland used balanced scoring and a strong defensive performance to secure the victory and move one step closer to another conference title. The Red Dragons improved to 23\u20133 overall and 17\u20131 in conference play with the win, while Oneonta fell to 15\u201312 overall and 9\u20139 in the SUNYAC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cortland established control early in the game and never trailed, a trend we’ve seen in many of their victories thus far. The Red Dragons jumped out to an 18\u201312 lead after the first quarter and maintained their advantage throughout the contest. Although Oneonta briefly narrowed the gap late in the first half, Cortland entered halftime with a four-point lead and regained momentum in the third quarter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Red Dragons extended their lead with a strong second half, outscoring Oneonta 34\u201322 over the final two quarters. Cortland\u2019s defense proved decisive, holding Oneonta to just 18 field goals and preventing the Hawks from making a single three-point shot in the game. In today’s game, this is almost always a recipe for success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four Cortland players scored in double figures to pace the offense. Brooke Tillotson and Jackie Funk each scored 13 points, while Sophie Bissaillon added 12 points. Joleen Lusk contributed 11 points and helped spark the team early with a three-pointer that gave Cortland its first lead of the night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cortland\u2019s balanced attack and defensive effort helped the team control the game from start to finish. The Red Dragons shot 25-of-57 from the field and outrebounded Oneonta 38\u201329, giving them additional scoring opportunities throughout the contest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oneonta was led by Megan Desrats, who scored 15 points to lead all Hawks scorers. Leela Guobadia added nine points off the bench, while Addy Eckert contributed seven points. Despite their efforts, Oneonta struggled offensively, shooting just 34 percent from the field and going 0-for-13 from three-point range. This is something weve seen time in and time out by Cortland’s strangling defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cortland\u2019s defensive pressure played a key role in the outcome, limiting Oneonta\u2019s perimeter shooting and forcing difficult offensive possessions. The Red Dragons also controlled the paint, finishing with 26 points inside and consistently winning the rebounding battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The victory sends Cortland to the SUNYAC championship game, where the Red Dragons look to capture another conference title and earn the league\u2019s automatic berth to the NCAA Division III tournament. The program entered the postseason as one of the conference\u2019s top teams after an impressive regular season and continued its strong play in the semifinal round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With balanced scoring, strong defense, and control on the boards, Cortland delivered a complete performance in the semifinal matchup. The Red Dragons\u2019 ability to dictate the pace of play and shut down Oneonta\u2019s offense proved decisive as they advanced to the SUNYAC championship game with a convincing 65\u201349 victory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CORTLAND, N.Y. \u2014 The Cortland Red Dragons women’s basketball team continues its stellar season and advanced to the conference championship after defeating the SUNY Oneonta Red Dragons women’s basketball 65\u201349 in the semifinals of the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) tournament on Feb. 27. Cortland used balanced scoring and a strong defensive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":422,"featured_media":1216,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9911","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"entry"},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2023\/02\/20200106_01994.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2023\/02\/20200106_01994.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Josh Michel","author_link":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/author\/joshua-michel02\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/422"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}