Women’s Basketball wins 2 in a row

Garrett Collins

The Plattsburgh Cardinals women’s basketball team welcomed the Norwich Cadets, the SUNY Cobleskill Tigers and the SUNY Potsdam Bears for the Cardinal Classic, Nov. 12 and 13. The Cardinals entered the weekend with a record of 1-1, where they lost to the Kangaroos and the Badgers. The Cardinals loss to start the season has now turned into a distant memory as the Cardinals went 2-0 vs SUNY Cobleskill and Norwich University. The Cardinals would take care of business in a big way, winning both games by over ten points. 

The first game of the weekend matched the Cardinals up versus the Tigers. The first quarter saw the Cardinals and the Tigers go back and forth exchanging the lead seven times. The Cardinals as a whole in the first quarter fell into a rut in the shooting percentage category going 3-14 and shot 1-8 from downtown. By the end of the first quarter the Cardinals found themselves down by six by a score of 21-15. The beginning of the second quarter of the game saw the Tigers go on a 8-0 run that put the Cardinals on the ropes down by 12. The Cardinals still had trouble finding their footing for the remainder of the second half closing the first half down by 7 36-29. The Cardinals shooting slump from the first quarter continued into the second half shooting 4-20 from the field. 

The team, however, was able to cash out from three point range going 2-5 from the three-point line. The Tigers had a close grip on the lead, not allowing the Cardinals to recapture the lead since 2:40 left in the first quarter. If the Cardinals were to mount a comeback, they would need to get their scoring percentage up and break their slump. 

The third quarter saw the Cardinals do just that as Mya Smith shrank the lead down to four points when she drained a three pointer to open up the scoring in the second half.  Another layup from Smith and two jump shots from Brinley Inglee allowed the Cardinals to scrape back into striking distance to retake the lead, down by one by a score of 43-42. With 3:06 left in the quarter the Cardinals broke the ice and retook the lead 47-45 after a layup by Smith. After the Cardinals took the lead in the third quarter they never let it go. Scoring another nine points to finish off the quarter by a score of 50-45. The Cardinals were able to clean up their shooting percentage shooting an exceptional 9-16 and going 50% from three, only making one of two. Just like the run the Tigers had in the final quarter in the first half, the Cardinals had a run of their own, going 11-2 in the opening minutes of the final quarter. The Tigers scored four points back to back and would close the Cardinals lead to ten points with just 4:15 left in the game. By 2:10 left in the game the Tigers were forced to make the Cardinals take free throws that they were able to drain. The Cardinals were able to comeback and finish the second half by a score of 71-60. The main attribute to the Cardinals comeback came from their ability to make shots, especially in the third quarter. The weekend was not over for the Cardinals, however, as they took on the Norwich Cadets Saturday.

Going into the Cardinals last game of the weekend versus the Norwich University Cadets. A day earlier they avoided a collapse rallying back vs the Cobleskill Tigers winning the game 71-60.

The opening quarter saw the Cadets starting fast on a 7-2 run that ran until 6:11 left in the first quarter. A lay up and a free throw made by breakout player Payton Couture helped the Cardinals keep the game close, closing the run with a score of 7-5 between the two teams. Not much scoring happened between the two sides setting the stage for a low scoring affair, The final score of the first quarter the score was 14-10 in favor of the Cadets. The Cardinals for the first quarter shot 3-14 from the field and 1-8 from three point range. The second quarter opened with the Cards immediately cutting into the four point deficit with a three pointer from Kanesha Strider. A jumper from Brittani Campell gave the Cardinals their first lead of the game. The two teams traded scores for the remaining seven minutes of the first half, with a score of 20-19 Cardinals. Plattsburghs first half shooting, once again was not a strong suit of the team shooting a mere 4-20 from the field and 2-8 from three-point line. 

Just as the Cardinals did in the earlier game they went on a run to open up the second half. This however was the one that crushed the spirit of the Cadets early in the second half, with the Cardinals going on a massive 20-2 run to put the Cardinals up 19 by a score of 40-21 with 3:08 left to go in the third quarter. The Cadets, hurt by the run, were only able to tally 4 points in the final 3 minutes of the game and that left the Cadets down 49-25. The Cardinals once again bounced back from a bad first half shooting slump, jumping up to 10-16 from the field and a great stat line from three making 5-8 from the three point line. After that third quarter run the Cadets seemed like they weren’t able to recover, The Cardinals would hold onto a 24 point lead for the entirety of the final quarter and the Cardinals would cap off their weekend with a three-game winning streak. 

The Cardinals  threegame winning streak was tested in their next Matchup when they took a trip west to St. Lawrence to take on the Saints.