The Oswego State women's basketball team shot 50 percent from the field in trailing St. Lawrence University by one point at halftime, but were held to 33.3 percent shooting (6-for 18) from the floor in the second half while committing 33 turnovers for the game in opening the second half of the season with a 62.49 loss to the visiting Saints in a non-conference matchup at Max Ziel Gymnasium on Tuesday, January 6.
The win was the fifth straight for the Saints (6-2), while the Lakers (4-5) dropped their third in a row.
Sophomore guard Traci Bacon (Massena) was the top scorer for Oswego with 16 points, hitting six of nine shots from the floor with a pair of three-pointers, followed by classmate forward Colleen McCready (Pittsford/Pittsford Mendon) with 11 points and five rebounds. Freshman Kayla Ryan (Schaghicoke/Hoosick Valley) tallied nine points and five rebounds.
St. Lawrence had three players scoring in double digits, led by sophomore Abby Stanton with a game-high 19 points on 8-for-11 shooting from the floor with two 3-pointers. Senior Katie Palmer followed with 18 points on 7-for-15 shooting from the field (two 3-pointers), pulled down a game-high seven rebounds, and collected six steals, while Brittany Paerham added 11 poinrs, five rebounds and three steals.
There were five ties and seven lead changes in the opening half, with St. Lawrence jumping out to its biggest lead of the half at 15-10 with 8:35 to play. The Lakers used an 11-2 run, with Ryan scoring seven points in the stretch, to take a 24-20 advantage with 5:09 remaining before St. Lawrence closed out the half on a 9-4 run to take a 29-28 lead into the locker room.
The Saints opened the half with a 10-1 run to stretch their lead to 39-29 with 17:45 to play. The Lakers pulled to within six points on a jumper from Erin Ostrander (Angelica/Genesee Valley), but would get no closer as St. Lawrence built their lead to as many as 20 points (62-42) with 3:29 to play.
Oswego will travel to Clarkson University on Thursday, Jan. 8 for a 6 p.m. contest before resuming conference play two days later at SUNY Cortland at 6 p.m.
