OSWEGO N.Y. — The Oswego State women’s basketball team Saturday suffered an unfortunate 59-48 loss to the Fredonia Blue Devils. The Lakers stayed in it until the very end where Fredonia went on a nine point run to end the game, ultimately giving the Blue Devils the victory. It was almost as close as it can get heading into the forth with the Blue Devils only up by one point. The Lakers were ready for a battle, but came up on the losing end. Freshman Shania Iglesias was the lead scorer for the Lakers dropping an impressive seventeen points with two three pointers and nine rebounds. Right behind Iglesias was senior Danielle Caivana with twelve points. Despite this tough loss, the Lakers have to find a way to start clicking and picking up some wins. All hope is not lost as the Lakers return after the holiday season to host Alfred State January 3rd in the Max Ziel Gymnasium. Tip off is at 12 p.m. on WTOP 10!
Image Provided by Oswego State Athletics
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Women’s Soccer fights out draw
GENESEO, N.Y. – The Oswego State Women’s soccer team took to the road Wednesday afternoon to take on the Geneseo Knights. Both team’s came into the game in the top four of the SUNYAC standings, with Geneseo three points ahead of the Lakers. It was a quiet first half for both teams. The Lakers only got two shots off in the entire half, one of them being on target. The Knights got seven shots off in the half, four of them between the ninth and twentieth minutes, but only two were on target. Oswego keeper Perri Anderson finished the half with two saves.
The second half of the match was a bit more exciting. Both teams got off five shots, but only one of the ten was on target. Three of the Lakers shots came between the 73rd and 81st minutes, though none of them drew a save from the Geneseo Keeper. A defensive battle ended in a 0-0 tie for both teams, granting each a point in the standings. Anderson would finish the game with three saves. Amber McDermott had the only shot on goal for the Lakers.
The Lakers now sit at 7-3-2 (2-1-1 SUNYAC). They have five games left this season, all against conference opponents. Their next game is Saturday October, 8 in Plattsburgh to take on the Cardinals.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHELLE QUIACHON, WTOP10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
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Progress Report: Oswego State women’s basketball
OSWEGO, N.Y. — The Oswego State women’s basketball team started the 2021 season off strong, going 3-3 in their first six games with an average margin of victory of 33 points. However, the Lakers suffered from a four-game losing skid to end the fall semester and now sit at 3-7 heading into 2022. Although Oswego is four games under .500, they boast two blowout victories over non-SUNYAC teams in SUNY-Delhi (75-39) and Wells College (73-23).
The Lakers are currently 0-4 in SUNYAC games with losses to SUNY Cortland, Buffalo State, SUNY Brockport and Fredonia. Though they sit one game back from SUNY Plattsburgh and two games back from SUNY Geneseo in the SUNYAC standings.
The Lakers are led by senior guard Danielle Caivana who leads the team in minutes per game (33.0), points per game (15.1) and 3-pointers made (25). Freshman forward Diamond Pickett is having a great start to her collegiate career, averaging close to a double-double with 8.3 points per game and 10.1 rebounds per game. Pickett also leads the team in field goal percentage, shooting 51% from the field. Sophomore forward Caitie Lilly has been the Lakers anchor on the defensive end, racking up 14 blocks thus far in the season, including back-to-back five-block performances versus SUNY Cortland and Buffalo State.
As a team, the Lakers are giving up 60 points per game, their lowest point total allowed since 2017. However, Oswego is only averaging 62.3 points per game, with that average being inflated from their 36 and 50-point victories earlier this season. Although the Lakers are on a losing streak, they’ve been competitive in all of their games thus far, with their biggest losing deficit being just 14 points.
With Oswego sitting at 3-7 entering the new year, they’ll need to be on the winning side of their close contests to have a shot at the SUNYAC playoffs. Luckily for the Lakers, there are more 15 opportunities for them to climb back into contention, with 14 of their next 15 games being against SUNYAC rivals. Oswego’s next game comes against Alfred State College on Monday, Jan. 4. Tip-off is set for 12 p.m. at the Max Ziel Gymnasium.
Photo provided by Shelby Peplowski, WTOP-10 Photography Department
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Where There’s Sparks, There’s Fire
Bethlehem, PA – The Lakers sailed down to Moravian College for the 40th Steel Club Classic picking up two wins on the perfect weekend. Their first matchup was against Montclair State who had scored over a hundred points in multiple games this season but couldn’t produce against the reigning SUNYAC championship defense of the Oswego Lakers. The Redhawks scored 73 points good enough for a season-low in their first 11 games this year, but it wasn’t a cakewalk win for the Lakers.
Montclair State ran a baseline to baseline trap on Oswego from the opening tip until the horn sounded at the end of the game. Senior Brandon Gartland shot 5 for 6 from beyond the arc exploiting no-easy-inside-bucket Redhawk defense. Junior Liam Sanborn finished the game with 22 points and helped control the pace of the game when Montclair began to chip away at the lead in the second half. Coach Leone expressed that Liam is “the guy who runs the show for us” and as good as he was on Saturday, it was a different story come Sunday.
Sanborn got into foul trouble early in the game against the Moravian College Greyhounds and didn’t see the floor much in the first half. Ending the game with 6 total points, Sanborn wasn’t the normal floor general for the Lakers. Freshman Jeremiah Sparks was the ‘spark horse’ on Sunday scoring 32 points bringing his total up to 50 on the weekend. Sparks plugged the hole in his offensive game after having five turnovers on Saturday against the Redhawks and Coach Leone was pleased with his performance.
“[Jeremiah] has obviously got some g-d given ability with his athleticism,” Coach Leone praised, “tonight might have been Jeremiah’s best game in terms of moving the ball when he was double-teamed.”
Sparks was also a presence on the defensive end tonight registering two steals and three monster blocks against the Hounds–the only three blocks of the game for Oswego. Freshman Kaleb Cook was in the backcourt with Sparks and he came up with a couple of clutch buckets and rebounds down the stretch. This turned out to be another point of emphasis for Leone regarding his comfort levels with the depth on his team.
“We finished the game with two freshman guards out there,” Leone said “so that’s pretty good for the future of our program. It was a great thing for them to be able to go through that experience especially during a win.”
Although, this win may have been a loss if it wasn’t for Joe Sullivan’s ability to flip the switch in the second half. Sullivan was non-existent in the first half ending without a bucket but through all of the adversity Oswego played against being in Moravian’s backyard, he finished with 22 second-half points.
“We challenged a couple of guys at halftime.” Leone expressed, “Like a senior should, [Sullivan] stepped up his game and played a great second half. We wouldn’t have won without him.”
Joe Sullivan finished with five boards to add to his second-half outburst and went 10 for 11 from the charity stripe. Funny enough, his missed free throw would be the ONLY missed free throw on the night for the Lakers. Oswego made 37 free throws on 38 attempts which helped seal the deal late in the game. Coach Leone was satisfied by their efforts at the line tonight.
“That was the thing I was most happy about.” Leone said, “I don’t know if we made that one we missed if it would be some kind of record for us. 37 out of 38 is pretty impressive and our guys deserve a lot of credit on that.”
Sullivan and Gartland combined for 21 of 22 at the free-throw line on Sunday night as the Lakers outran the Greyhounds winning by a score of 85 to 79 and improve to 7-2 on the year. The Lakers will play their home opener this Friday against Fredonia at 7:30 p.m. in Max Zeil Gymnasium, and look for Jeremiah Sparks to continue to produce as he grows into a future SUNYAC star.
