By Brandon Ladd

The Oswego State women’s basketball team used four consecutive missed shots by SUNY Oneonta to get its first SUNYAC win of the season on Jan. 28, putting a season-long of improvement together. 

The 49-46 win over the Red Dragons capped off a four-game streak in which the Lakers held their opponents under 55 points. The defense has been building all season towards being a shutdown team that can overcome an offense led by younger players this season and has been inconsistent scoring. Head coach Sean Pinkerton is satisfied with the way the defense has come together. 

“I think we have been doing a really great job defensively recently,” Pinkerton said. “I know we are very capable of being successful on that end of the floor. I thought they did a great job at the end stringing together stops while we were struggling offensively. I was really happy and proud of them to come out of there with the win.” 

The following day against SUNY New Paltz highlighted the team’s lack of execution in the final minute of the game. Trailing by one point with 30 seconds remaining, the Lakers had the Hawks down to the final two seconds on the shot clock before committing a reach-in foul. Pinkerton was disappointed by the foul and how it impacted the team’s chances of winning after. 

“I was really proud of the effort again,” Pinkerton said. “I was frustrated with the execution over the final minute of the game. It was about to be a shot clock violation, they have one second left and they aren’t even close to getting a shot up and we reach in and smack them across the arm.” 

Pinkerton elaborated that the team knew what was coming from the Hawks on the ensuing sidelines out of bounds and still were unable to make the stop. Now, down three points, they needed to set up a sidelines out of bounds play to get a potential game-tying shot. The play was for Logan Castigloine, but the screens were not set properly according to the head coach, which forced a more desperate heave. 

“We ran the sidelines out of bounds with 13.5 seconds to go,” Pinkerton said. “We missed the last two screens for Logan, which resulted in her having to run to a much deeper spot on the court and take a much more difficult shot. So, just some execution stuff when we are playing with a bunch of kids who have not played a lot of basketball.” 

Leaving the past weekend in the rearview mirror will be key for the Lakers though as their schedule features four games in eight days starting on Feb. 4 at home against SUNY Potsdam. A team that will bring back painful memories, seeing Oswego State lost at the buzzer on a corner jump shot by Caroline Lafountain, giving the Bears a 65-64 edge. 

That Jan. 13 game was highlighted by the excellent play of Danielle Caivana and Diamond Pickett for Oswego State, who posted 23 and 20 points respectively. The rest of the team struggled from the field, combining to go seven of 25 shots. 

Feb. 5, the Lakers take on bitter rival Plattsburgh State at home, the first matchup against the Cardinals was not so close. Oswego State lost 73-43 in Plattsburgh State on Jan. 14. The team shot 20 % from the field, a woeful 15 of 75 shots. The team only had five made shots at halftime, trailing 27-13. Despite the offense waking up for the Lakers, it did for the Cardinals as well as they went for another 46 points to widen the gap in the second half. 

The chance for a closer game is there though, as both teams share spots at the bottom of the conference standings. Oswego State sits at 1-10 in SUNYAC play and Plattsburgh State is only at 2-9. Pinkerton is expecting a calculated effort needed to beat them. 

“Plattsburgh has been much more competitive as of late,” Pinkerton said. “Smacked us last time. We’ve got to be prepared to take away the things that they do really well.” 

The quick turnaround Tuesday will be a trip to Buffalo State, who currently sits at 6-5 in the conference. The Bengals won 78-64 on Dec. 3 in Max Ziel gymnasium. Chastin Giles was the leading scorer for the Lakers that day with an efficient 21 points. The opposition scoring was too much though as four Bengals scored double digit points. 

With seven games remaining in the season and the Lakers sitting four wins back of the current six-seed in the conference, it will take a spirited effort to fly up the standings. The top six teams in the conference make the SUNYAC playoffs. Oswego State’s last appearance in the playoffs was 2013 as a three-seed.

Kailee Montross | The Oswegonian