PUERTO RICO – The Dickinson women's basketball team once again tried to overcome a big halftime deficit as the Red and White trailed the senior-heavy and national vote getting SUNY Cortland 40-20 at the break. Over the final 20 minutes the Red Devils fought valiantly, but fell just short of toppling the Red Dragons by a 63-54 final snapping DC's six-game win streak and wrapping up their two-game Puerto Rico trip.
Cortland was out of the blocks first with a 2-0 lead, before
Mia Kolb split a pair on the line to make it 2-1 inside the opening 90-seconds. Maggie Malone answered back with a foul-line jumper which sparked a 13-7 push for the Red Dragons to grab a 17-8 advantage with a minute to play. Cortland would add three more at the buzzer when Emily Morano stepped behind the arc off an inbounds pass and hit nothing but the bottom of the net for a 20-8 advantage after one.
The Dragons added onto their lead with buckets by Logan Streety, Malone and Morano to open up a 26-8 cushion with just over a minute off the clock.
Clair Marion and
Victoria Zerbe scored to get DC to within 26-13, before Morano stepped back for another triple and Sarah Tully converted an "old-fashioned" three-point play to stretch the margin back out to 32-13.
Caitlin Blackman,
Lindsey Hollenshead,
Jenna Weinstein, and Marion continued to help the Red and White chip away at the deficit as they cut it down to 32-18 with 2:45 remaining in the half. Then, out of a Cortland timeout the Red Dragons answered back with a vengeance notching eight of the next ten to close out the first half with a 40-20 lead.
It took just over a minute into third each side to find the scoreboard as Blackman stuck a jumper for the Devils, prior to being answered in the paint by Nyia Longford. After an empty trip for DC, Longford stepped into the far corner and knocked down a triple to push the advantage over 20 at 45-22 at the 2:21 mark.
Mia Chapman, Kolb, and Marion scored six straight over the next three minutes, until Corinne Miedreich hit a tough turnaround jumper in the lane to make it 47-30. Despite three balls from Blackman and Hollenshead, Cortland outpaced the Devils 7-6 over the final two minutes to hold a 54-36 edge through three periods.
Brooke Tillotson opened the scoring in the fourth just 30-seconds in. It took over three minutes for Dickinson to hit the bottom of the net when Marion hit from downtown, before forcing a steal and hitting one of two at the line to make it 56-40 with 6:39 remaining. After nice finishes inside by
Gina Neigel and Chapman cut the deficit to 56-44, Longford and Malone racked up three straight. Dickinson did not go down quietly however as Blackman hit two on the charity stripe and added two more baskets, while Marion chipped in once to bring the margin to 60-52 inside the last minute. Longford drilled three of four at the line to push the lead back over the ten-point threshold at 63-52. Chapman would add the final basket of the game with a layup off a well-executed inbounds play off a timeout to set the 63-54 final.
Next on the Court
Dickinson (7-3, 4-1 Centennial) will now get some much needed rest and relaxation, before returning to action after the turn of the new year on January 4th when the Red and White host Johns Hopkins at 6pm.
(Stats were not available at the time of writing)
