The women’s basketball team split two games on the road on Friday Feb. 8 and Saturday Feb. 9 against SUNY Potsdam and SUNY Plattsburgh, respectively, and won a home matchup against Keuka College.
The Knights opened up their weekend in the North Country with a win against SUNY Potsdam, 74-33. Sophomore forward Shannon McGinnis was nearly perfect on the floor, scoring 17 points on seven for eight field goals, shooting with a perfect three for three from downtown. Senior guard Melissa Graham recorded her third double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds. The Knights outrebounded the Bears 44-23.
Head coach Scott Hemer said he believed that the Knights were well prepared for this game.
“Our energy level, coming out of the gate, was the real key to the game,” Hemer said. “We dictated tempo and style of play right from the word ‘go.’”
The win gave the Knights a first-round bye in the playoffs. Geneseo will face the winner of the No. 3 and No. 6 seeds on Friday Feb. 22. Despite clinching the second seed, Hemer said that he will not rest his starters for the playoffs.
“We need to use each of our last opportunities to try and improve,” Hemer said.
Graham scored 19 points with 40 minutes of play against the Cardinals on Saturday, but Geneseo could not come up with the win and fell 53-49.
“I felt we showed little passion,” Hemer said. “We did a poor job overall in rebounding in the second half.”
Hemer said he felt that the team showed the “exact opposite” of what went right against Potsdam.
“Unfortunately when you do that and you’re on the road playing against a team with a lot of talent, you tend to lose more of those than you win,” Hemer said.The Knights had the opportunity for redemption on Tuesday Feb. 12 against Keuka. In a pregame interview, Hemer said Keuka plays “a very up-tempo, aggressive style.”
“They have enjoyed a lot of success this year so we certainly don’t anticipate them coming in and treating it like a nonconference game,” Hemer said.
Three players – McGinnis, Graham and freshman forward Allison McKenna – recorded double-doubles in the 64-44 victory. Sophomore guard Biz Reinhardt also made her debut since coming back from injury.
The Knights snapped Keuka’s 12-game win streak, but the main story of the night was Graham’s reaching 1,000 career points. Graham becomes the 12th program member to reach this milestone.
Geneseo faces SUNY Fredonia on Friday Feb. 15 in its last weekend of regular-season play before competing against Buffalo State College in its final home game against Buffalo State College on Saturday Feb. 16.u