Clarkson Starts Second Half with Loss to Cortland, 70-50

Sophomore Marissa Pelosi came off the bench and hit a pair of 3-pointers for Clarkson against Cortland on Thursday. - Photo by Gary Mikel

Potsdam, NY – An extended scoring drought in the first half by the Clarkson University Women’s Basketball team allowed Cortland to regroup and take advantage with its own run as the Golden Knights fell to the Red Dragons 70-50 in non-league action Thursday afternoon at Alumni Gymnasium.

The Golden Knights finished off the non-conference portion of their schedule with a record of 5-3 and will open Liberty League play next Tuesday at St. Lawrence. Cortland moved to 7-5 overall on the campaign.

Neither team could get much going offensively in the early going of the first half as Clarkson held a 5-3 advantage after a Leighann Tomita (Cerritos, CA) free throw, but that would be the last that the Knights would have a lead. Cortland slowly gained a five-point lead with a 3-pointer five minutes later, and finally got on track, taking a 15-point advantage (20-5) after a 3-point play from Brittany Cohen was converted at 8:43. The Knights ended an eight-minute scoreless run with a 3-pointer from Tomita to get things going once again. However, Clarkson found itself down by 17 a moment later, and finished the half trailing by 18 points, 31-13.

Cortland moved its lead to the mid-20s to start the second half, but after a cold run in the opening 20 minutes, Clarkson’s shots started to go down from both the perimeter and on the interior. The Red Dragons also picked up the pace, shooting 54.2% in the second half (13-for-24), and never allowed the Knights to get closer than 13 points midway through the second period.

Freshman Leighann Tomita finished the game with 14 points to lead Clarkson, shooting 5-for-9 from the field with three 3-pointers, and classmate Taliah Pounds (Watervliet, NY) tossed in 10 points before fouling out late in the game.

For the Red Dragons, Brittany Cohen led all scorers with 17 points, shooting 5-for-11 from the floor and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Katrina Davenport chipped in 12 points and also added four steals for Cortland.

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