Sophomore Maggie Byrne (Pearl River/Albertus Magnus) finished with 18 points and five assists and senior Kerry Costello (Katonah/John Jay) scored 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds for the hosts. Sophomore Ali Canale (Oswego) added nine points and seven rebounds and junior Sara Cavanaugh (Hastings-on-Hudson/Hastings) grabbed nine rebounds, handed out three assists and blocked two shots.
Melissa Donohue (Niverville/Ichabod Crane) led Oneonta (13-8, 6-6) with 16 points, eight rebounds and five steals. Christi Podgorski (Schenectady/Guilderland) made 3-of-6 three-pointers and finished with 14 points.
Cortland led 8-2 to start the game, but Oneonta scored the next nine points, six by Shannon Weir (Milford), and led 11-8 with 11:54 left in the half. Oneonta went up 15-11 with 10 minutes left, but Cortland answered with seven straight points and led 18-15 with 7:40 left. Neither team led by more than three points the rest of the half until Costello’s three-pointer from the right corner at the buzzer gave Cortland a 33-29 halftime lead.
The hosts then scored the first eight points of the second half, including six by Laing, and led 41-29 with 15:51 remaining. Oneonta closed back to within 46-40 on a Donohue jumper with 10:57 left, but Canale hit a three-pointer on her first attempt this season from behind the arc to start a 9-0 run. The streak also featured a Costello trey and a Laing three-point play, and the Red Dragons led 55-40 with 8:18 on the clock.
Oneonta still trailed by 11 points with 4:46 left, but scored the next six points and was behind only 62-57 with 4:01 remaining after two Donohue free throws. Donohue also hit two foul shots with 2:23 left to keep the guests within six, but freshman Miranda Lustig (Medford/Patchogue-Medford) made three free throws over the next 36 seconds and Laing sank two charity tosses at the 1:29 mark to push the lead back to 11.