OSWEGO, NY – Women’s Basketball continues to impress early on in the 2022-23 season as they won the 2022 Max Ziel Tournament and stay undefeated at 3-0. The Lakers got the tournament started by taking down the Keystone College Giants 86-84 in OT.
The first quarter was competitive as there were eight lead changes in the quarter. The Lakers went 3-8 from the field goal line in the first quarter and would outscore the Giants 19-11 in rebounds. The second quarter saw three more lead changes as both teams would score 17 points in the quarter as the score was tied at 35 going into the half. In the third quarter, there were eight more lead changes as the game continued to be a back-and-forth battle between the Lakers and the Giants.
The Lakers would lead 62-28 going into the fourth quarter but Keystone began to pull away in the fourth. Karleigh Leo helped rally the Lakers back as she had ten points in the final four minutes of the fourth to bring the game to overtime at 77. In overtime, both teams went back-and-forth until Diamond Pickett grabbed an offensive rebound and scored with 1.8 seconds left in overtime. A last-second three-point attempt by Keystone’s Riley Berry failed as the Lakers won 86-84 in OT. Leo would lead the Lakers on the day with 23 points while Pickett had scored 14 points. Despite the losing effort, Berry had 33 points in the game with a total of 58 throughout the whole entire tournament including going 13-25 from the three-point line. She was able to earn herself an All-Tournament Player award for her team for the tournament.
In the second game, the Lakers rode the momentum they had against Keystone into their game against the Suny Poly Wildcats winning 65-64. The Wildcats came off a day one win in the tournament against Morrisville defeating them 63-55.
The Lakers started off the game with back-to-back three-pointers from Karleigh Leo and Logan Castiglione to put the Lakers up 6-2 early in the first quarter. The Wildcats were able to maintain a three-point lead going into the second quarter but the Lakers would go on a 13-point run to lead 27-17. Poly would rally back though and would cut the deficit to four. The Lakers would lead 33-29 going into halftime.
Karleigh Leo would go off in the third quarter with four three-pointers as the Wildcats had no answers for her. The Lakers would begin to pull away from the Wildcats 59-48 at the end of the third. The Wildcats would rally back in the fourth despite both teams struggling offensively. Diamond Pickett proved to be the difference maker once again as she scored the game-winning basket with nine seconds remaining. Logan Castiglione would win the All-Tournament Player award for Oswego as she had 19 points to go along with 11 field goals made in both games. Karleigh Leo would win the MVP for the tournament after her incredible performance in both games where she recorded 40 points along with going 15-37 from the field-goal line.
The Lakers will stay home to face Wells College on Wednesday, November 16th at the Max Ziel Gymnasium at 7 PM. The Lakers will look to stay undefeated this season as they look for their first four 4-0 start since the 2010-11 season. Additionally, they will be looking for their first four-game win streak since the 2012-13 season.
PHOTO CREDITS PROVIDED BY OSWEGO STATE ATHLETICS
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