It did not take long for the Oswego State women’s basketball team to match its win total from the 2018-19 campaign. With a 64-25 win over SUNY Canton, the Lakers won their second game of the season Wednesday night.
Oswego State was dominant in its performance against SUNY Canton, holding the Kangaroos’ offense in check all night. That has been the story early in the season for SUNY Canton, though. The Lakers’ winning ways started on Saturday, Nov. 16 in the consolation game of the Max Ziel Women’s Basketball Tournament vs. the Morrisville State Mustangs. Oswego State earned a 77-62 win, after monster performances from both senior Sydni Eure and sophomore Ramatoulaye Sy, as both players posted 27 points each. The two were still very confident from the game on Saturday.
“I think it is an experimental time for us as a team,” Eure said. “Kind of getting used to each other and learning each other’s strengths and weaknesses. So hopefully, we are just going to capitalize on everything that we learned. When we start playing in the conference, we will be able to double down on it all.”
Sy had a very similar outlook to her frontcourt counterpart.
“It was a good start,” Sy said. “And, a bad start at the same time. On Friday we did a poor job just being there and playing hard. But I think on Saturday we corrected that, and we were able to get back on our feet and win that game.”
The Lakers received some help from Raiven Encarnacion, as she added a solid nine points to the effort vs. Morrisville State. But the bulk of the load was carried by Sy and Eure, who put up 21 rebounds and 19 rebounds, respectively. Not many college teams can have their front court duo record a pair of 20-20 performances. The 20-point, 20-rebound game is incredibly rare, and the fact that two Lakers nearly were able to do it is impressive. If that type of play up front continues for the Lakers, they might be a competent foe to anyone they run into in SUNYAC play, as they try to avenge a 1-17 record in conference play last season.
The key “effort stat” for the Lakers this season continues to be rebounding, and it was no different Wednesday night against SUNY Canton. Oswego State edged the Roos 59 rebounds to 45 rebounds. It was more of a mixed bag for the Lakers as well, getting at least two points from 10 different players. Sy led the team with 16 points. Taylor Torchia was able to get 13 points in the first half, after draining three 3-pointers. Also Lila McHale-Carter’s five points marked the first of her collegiate career as a freshman. The stat of the night though was the astronomically low shooting percentage of the Roos in the first half. A 3% shooting percentage from the floor, which resulted in just six first half points. Whether it was good defense, or bad offense, the Lakers got the job done on the defensive end for the first 20 minutes.
Both for Eure and Sy expressed similar sentiments on the win over SUNY Canton. They do not want this winning feeling to end anytime soon either. The Lakers will look for three in a row, as they play Alfred University on Saturday in the Max Ziel Gymnasium. A three-game win streak is a feat they have not been able to accomplish since the 2016-17 season.
“Only going up from here,” Eure said. “I think nobody has expectations to settle or only lose from now on, we just want to keep getting stronger and keep learning and working together to win.”
Sy could not keep a smile from her face, before talking about how Oswego State has impressed in its last two wins.
“We are dominating this year,” Sy said. “Absolutely, I think we have the talent individually, we just need to make our way up and work on that chemistry between us. I think we can be special.”
Photo by Nicole Hube | The Oswegonian
