The up-and-down season for the Oswego State women’s basketball team continued as they hosted two pivotal games over the weekend against SUNY New Paltz and SUNY Oneonta. Coming into the weekend, the Lakers held a record of 12-8 as their season begins to conclude. 

On Feb. 3, the Lakers were defending their home court against SUNYAC rival, SUNY New Paltz, at the Max Ziel Gymnasium. The story of the contest was the constant pressure from the Hawk’s defense as they helped build an early 28-point lead heading into halftime. The Hawks would not slow down after halftime as they constantly pushed the ball up the court and extended their lead to 39 points with one quarter remaining. 

Despite outscoring the Hawks 22-11 in the final quarter, the Lakers comeback would not be enough and they would fall to SUNY New Paltz 71-43. Graduate student Logan Castiglione finished the game as the Lakers team leader with nine points on 50% shooting along with three rebounds. On the Hawk’s side, Brianna Fitzgerald dropped 20 points going 7-9 from the field. The difference maker was the Hawks shooting percentage as they shot 21% from beyond the arc compared to the Laker’s 11% and their 32 points off turnovers. 

After their loss to SUNY New Paltz, the Lakers hosted SUNY Oneonta the next day. Though they struggled in the first half the previous game, Oswego State came out hot early against Oneonta. Through the first quarter, the game was tied at 13 with Oswego State’s Guard Sydney Hoefs dropping six points. At the halftime buzzer the Lakers took a five point lead. 

Laker’s junior Chastin Giles scored seven points in the second quarter to help her team control the beginning of the game. Down by five entering the second half, the Red Dragons turned to Meg Nardelli who drilled three 3-pointers to add to her 13 points which helped SUNY Oneonta take a 46-41 lead heading into the final quarter. 

The Lakers could not stop the Red Dragons momentum and went stagnant on offense as they only scored seven points in the last 12 minutes, losing the game 62-48. Castiglione led Oswego State with 11 points, nine points coming from three-point land. For the Red Dragons, Nardelli dropped 21 points on 7-15 shooting along with six rebounds. The Lakers struggled to shoot from the free throw line going 5-10. Oswego State outscored SUNY Oneonta in bench points, 22-7, and points off turnovers, 14-8. However, the Red Dragons controlled much of the game in the paint dropping 24 points compared to Oswego State’s 16 points. 

These two losses brings Oswego State’s losing streak to three games as they look ahead to play the Red Dragons of SUNY Cortland at 6 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 11 at the Max Ziel Gymnasium. The Lakers have struggled against SUNY Cortland going 8-59 against them all-time and they have lost the previous six matchups.

  Oswego State currently sits in seventh place in the SUNYAC with a 5-10 conference record and 12-10 overall record with SUNY Brockport and SUNY Potsdam just ahead of Oswego State. The Lakers will need to finish their last three games strong to make a push for the final two spots.

Photo via: Oswego Athletics