The Geneseo women’s basketball team earned its fourth consecutive victory in a 69-62 win over SUNY Cortland on Tuesday Feb. 18. The team now sits at third in the conference as it heads into the final weekend of the regular season, tied with SUNY Oneonta – the Knights’ opponent on Friday Feb. 21. Junior co-captain Shannon McGinnis can take a lot of the credit for this streak, averaging 16.5 points per game. Other traits of the team, not only on the statistics sheet, are also aiding in the Knights’ success.
“All three of our captains – [McGinnis], senior Biz Reinhardt and junior Katie Peterson – have their own strengths and weaknesses, and the nice part is that one’s strengths tend to be another’s weakness, so they do a nice job of complimenting each other,” head coach Scott Hemer said. He went on to say that the success at the end of the season reflects the players each finding their roles.
If the season ended right now, or even if they dropped to fourth after Feb. 22, the Knights would earn a first-round playoff game at home. There is also the chance that Geneseo could hold second seed in the playoffs, but the Knights would need events to go their way for this to happen.
To Geneseo’s benefit, the first and second-placed teams – Buffalo State College and SUNY Plattsburgh, tied at 13-3 in the conference – play each other in the final weekend of the regular season. If one of them drops its last two games and Geneseo sweeps the weekend, the team could slide into first or second place and receive a first-round bye.
Regardless of where the Knights end up, their four-game win streak is a great way to head into the post-season. They have won each of the past four games by at least seven points and have won seven out of their last eight games.
Hemer didn’t express too much concern about seeding.
“I think that, about a month ago, we got away from our team goals in terms of looking at the big picture, and now we’re just trying to take it one game at a time,” he said.