Empire State Today

 The Plattsburgh State women's basketball team celebrated three seniors on Saturday afternoon, ultimately falling to Oneonta 61-51 in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) play. The game marked the final games for Misa Dowdell (Far Rockaway, N.Y/Scholars Academy), Kara Oatman (Honeoye Falls, N.Y./Honeoye Falls-Lima), and Mya Smith (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham).

Based upon a blanket waiver granted by the NCAA, some student-athletes may have eligibility remaining they would not have had otherwise, and they may choose to utilize it.

The team finishes and wraps up their season with an 8-17 (4-14 SUNYAC) record. Oneonta finishes their season at 18-7 (13-5 SUNYAC) and will host Potsdam next week on Feb. 21 at 5:30 p.m.

For Plattsburgh, Imani Walcott (Albany, N.Y./Albany) led the way with 13 points and 13 rebounds, matching her career-high in points as she posted her third double-double in her last four games. Kortney McCarthy (Peru, N.Y./Peru) had 12 points, also grabbing three boards and recording two steals. Payton Couture (Redford, N.Y./Saranac) added 10 points off the bench, adding three boards as well. Olivia Dobrovosky was the game's leading scorer with 15 points for Oneonta, as she also added nine rebounds, four assists, and three steals. 

Neither team was excellent from the field, with Oneonta holding the edge shooting 35% to Plattsburgh's 25%. Plattsburgh was able to generate some offense off of the Red Dragon giveaways, forcing 21 turnovers and earning 15 points off of those. The Red Dragons shot 21% from deep over the 40 minutes of action and the Cars shot 22.2%, making four shots from deep. 

The first quarter of action remained close between the two teams, as neither squad found their footing offensively, with Oneonta missing all five of their attempts from deep and Plattsburgh going 2-18 overall. At the outset of the second period, it looked like the Red Dragons were taking control of the game, going up by ten twice early in the quarter. Plattsburgh continued to fight back, eventually starting to score some points in the half court, with a McCarthy three capping a 9-2 run that brought the Cardinals back within two points. Two Smith free throws later pulled the Cards within two points, but a 5-0 burst from Oneonta to finish the half gave them a 28-21 lead. 

Once again, at the outset of the period, the Red Dragons came out strong, using a 7-0 burst out of halftime to take a 13-point lead. They would continue to hold the double-digit advantage throughout the period, as a three-pointer with 16 seconds to go in the quarter had them up fifteen points, but a Couture jumper with three seconds left brought the Cards within 15. Another quick run out of a quarter start pushed the lead to twenty points for Red Dragons twice, as they controlled play throughout the fourth. Trailing 61-45 with just under three minutes to go, Plattsburgh was able to string together consecutive stops, scoring the game's final six points, marking the game's final score of 61-51.Smith wrapped up her Cardinal career with seven points, seven rebounds, and four steals in 36 minutes of action, while Dowdell had a season-high six boards and Oatman corralled one rebound as well. 

Original source can be found here.