The Oswego State women's basketball battled throughout a 64-48 loss to New Paltz at home on Friday night in Max Ziel Gymnasium. With the loss, Oswego drops to 3-13 overall and 1-8 in SUNYAC action while the Hawks go to 11-5, 6-3.
Oswego was unable to overcome an early lull on the offensive end, despite several comeback rallies. The Lakers had four leads in the opening four minutes but a 20-2 New Paltz run over the next 6:20 of the first quarter proved to be an unsurmountable disadvantage.
Despite that Hawks spurt, Oswego would go down fighting, pulling to within two late in the second quarter, eventually heading to halftime down only four (35-31). The home team would again cut it to two in the second half, but could never bring it closer than that margin.
Mary Mazzella led all scorers with 16 points on the night to go along with seven boards, one shy of a team-high. Sophomore Zana Dillard corralled the Laker-best eight rebounds while chipping in three points, one block and on steal.
Oswego's second-leading scorer in the tilt was senior Tayler Sorell, finishing with 13 points on 4-for-8 shooting from the field. Sorell was also 3-for-5 from downtown, bringing her streak to four-straight games of 50.0% or better shooting from beyond the arc.
Courtney Ameele was active on the defensive end, blocking three New Paltz shots to tie a career-high, which she has now accomplished on four occasions. The sophomore added six points and a steal.
Oswego will return to the court at 2 p.m. on Saturday when it hosts Oneonta in a league matchup.
