Dec 15, 2018
UTICA, N.Y. – Shannon McGuire (West Babylon) hit the game-tying 3-pointer with two tenths of a second left in regulation and the winning reverse layup with six seconds remaining in overtime as Cortland edged host SUNY Poly, 64-63, in non-league women's basketball action.
McGuire finished with 17 points, six rebounds and a career-high five assists for the Red Dragons, who improved to 4-5 with the win. Alaina Lynch (Staten Island/Staten Island Tech) finished with 14 points, three assists and a career-high tying five rebounds and Tanna Mohammed (Huntington/Elwood-John H. Glenn) netted a season-high 10 points. Meghan Flanagan (Rochester/Brighton) contributed eight points and a game-high nine rebounds, Shana Crespo (Monroe/Monroe-Woodbury) grabbed six boards and Kristy Vitucci (Deer Park) handed out four assists.
Rylie Smith paced SUNY Poly (5-3) with 18 points and eight rebounds. She was 6-of-8 from the floor, including 4-of-5 from the 3-point arc. Taylor Aybar hit three treys and finished with 16 points, five steals and five rebounds and Molly Burdick had 10 points and five rebounds.
Cortland led 35-29 at halftime and by as much as nine at 43-34 with 3:58 left in the third quarter. The Wildcats, however, scored eight straight points, including two Aybar 3-pointers, to pull within one. Mohammed's 3-pointer gave Cortland a 46-42 lead entering the fourth.
SUNY Poly took its first lead of the second half at 52-50 on a Smith 3-pointer with 3:06 left and a basket by Burdick extended the margin to four. Vitucci's 3-pointer with just over a minute left in regulation cut the deficit to one. After the teams each failed to score on their next possessions, Cortland was forced to foul and Kiersten Leos hit two foul shots with 13 seconds left to give the hosts a three-point lead.
Cortland called timeout and advanced the ball to the frontcourt. SUNY Poly had committed only two fouls in the quarter to that point and elected to purposely foul twice with eight and five seconds left. Cortland called timeout with four seconds remaining, and on the ensuing inbounds McGuire took the ball, dribbled just to the left of the top of the key and buried the tying 3-pointer.
SUNY Poly actually enjoyed its largest lead of the game during overtime as early baskets by Aybar and Smith gave the Wildcats a 61-56 advantage. Cortland scored the next six points on a Mohammed free throw, a McGuire trey and a Flanagan jumper to take a 62-61 lead with 1:37 left.
Leos was fouled on a drive into the lane and hit two foul shots with 1:11 left to put the hosts back up by one. Cortland missed a 3-pointer on its next trip down the court, but the Red Dragons got the ball back on a Crespo steal with 18 seconds left. Off an inbounds play after a timeout, McGuire got the ball on the right wing, drove past her defender to the baseline and hit a reverse layup to give Cortland the lead.
SUNY Poly called timeout and advanced the ball to the frontcourt. Cortland's defense forced the Wildcats into a contested, driving baseline jumper from the left side that hit off the rim and was rebounded by Crespo as the buzzer sounded.
Cortland will take three weeks off before returning to action in a non-league game at Wells on Sunday, Jan. 6 at 2 p.m.