Cortland Sports Information Department
SPRINGFIELD, MASS. – Senior Beth Bonin (Cicero/Cicero-North Syracuse) and freshman Nyia Longford (Medford/Longwood) combined for 52 points and eight assists as Cortland defeated host Western New England University, 72-66, in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball tournament.
Cortland (22-6) was making its first NCAA appearance since 2010 and earned the program's first NCAA victory since 2009. The Red Dragons will face nationally second-ranked Tufts University in the second round on Saturday at 5 p.m. at Western New England. The Jumbos (27-1) defeated SUNY Poly, 72-34, in Friday night's other first-round game at Western New England.
Bonin, the SUNYAC Player of the Year, finished with 31 points, one shy of her Cortland career high, and added four assists and four rebounds. She hit five 3-pointers and was 12-of-14 from the foul line. Longford, the SUNYAC Rookie of the Year, tied her career highs with 21 points and four assists. She made 10-of-20 shots from the floor and also grabbed five rebounds.
Freshman Sarah Tully (East Aurora) led Cortland with 12 rebounds and scored four points. Senior Joka Oyefeso (Staten Island/Port Richmond) totaled four points, four rebounds and four blocked shots, senior Katie Carey (Greene) had four points, five rebounds, two assists and two blocks, and sophomore Julia Siler (Seaford), making her first start of the season, also scored four points.
Emily Farrell led four double-figure scorers for Western New England (21-6) with 18 points and also paced the Golden Bears with five assists. Meghan Orbann amassed 16 points, 12 rebounds and three steals, Julia Quinn added 11 points and four rebounds, and Courtney Carlson ended with 10 points and seven rebounds.
The hosts led only once at 2-0 less than a minute into the game. Cortland went on a 19-5 run over a five-minute span to take a 19-7 lead. Bonin scored 11 points during the run, including three 3-pointers, and Longford scored four points.
Cortland led 21-12 after one quarter and scored the first seven points of the second, all by Longford, to take its largest lead at 28-12 with 5:14 left before halftime. WNEU, however, fought back to as close as four points in the period on a Orbann foul shot with 1:04 left and trailed by only five, 31-26, at halftime.
The teams battled back and forth in the third, but every time the hosts got close Cortland had an answer. The Red Dragons were up 37-28 after a Longford layup at the 7:17 mark, but the Golden Bears scored nine of the next points, capped by a Quinn 3-pointer, and trailed 38-37 with 5:13 left.
Cortland posted the next six points – a Bonin layup with 4:52 left and back-to-back buckets from Oyefeso with 3:27 and 3:11 remaining – to take a seven-point lead. The Red Dragons led 50-40 with 1:20 on the clock after two Bonin foul shots and held a 50-42 advantage entering the fourth.
Tully made a layup less than 10 seconds into the fourth, but Orbann buried a 3-pointer and then hit a layup and the hosts were back within five, 52-47, with 8:46 left. Cortland's response was an 11-4 run over the next four minutes, highlighted by six points from Longford, a Bonin 3-pointer, and a Carey layup, and Cortland led 63-51 when the last media timeout arrived with 4:57 remaining.
Cortland was still up by 12 with 2:51 remaining on two Bonin free throws, and she made 7-of-8 free throws in the final minute to hold off a final WNEU charge. The Golden Bears got as close as 70-66 when Quinn hit a trey with less than eight seconds left before Bonin's free throws with about three seconds left finished the scoring.
Cortland shot 40 percent from the field overall compared to 36 percent for the Golden Bears. The Red Dragons held a 36-20 advantage in points in the paint.
