FIGHTING TIGER WOMEN DEFEAT HOLYOKE & NIAGARA OVER WEEKEND
The SUNY Cobleskill women’s basketball team continued their surge towards the NJCAA Region III Division III Tournament over the weekend with a pair of home victories. On Saturday the Fighting Tigers subdued visiting perennial NJCAA Region XXI title contender Holyoke Community College by a 60-40 score. The Orange & Black then came back on Sunday to easily outdistance NJCAA Region III Division II program Niagara Community College by a score of 81-23. The victories improve the Fighting Tigers’ overall record to 22-4 overall on the season.
“Our focus coming into these games was defensive intensity and offensive execution,” said Fighting Tiger Head Coach Josh Suttles. “Defensively we did a very good job in both games of maintaining our intensity and offensively we put in a few new wrinkles to prepare for the tournament which we did a good job of executing. We’re playing much better now than we did at the start of the semester which will hopefully lead to us peaking during the play-offs. This week is going to be huge in terms of the seeding for the regional tournament so these two games will dictate where we stand and who we will meet up with.”
Against Holyoke on Saturday, freshman forward Marie O’Malley, Oneonta, NY, Oneonta High School, led the team in scoring with 13 points to go with four rebounds and freshman center Shelley Pierson, Watervliet, NY, Watervliet High School, added 12 points, five rebounds and three steals on the afternoon. Cobleskill also received double digit scoring efforts from senior forward April Ackermann, South Huntington, NY, Sullivan West High School, with 12 points and six rebounds and from freshman forward Sharee Daniels, Poughkeepsie, NY, F.D. Roosevelt High School, who scored 11 points to go along with three assists.
Cobleskill also received strong play from senior point guard Nichole Garzon Bayside, NY, Benjamin Cardozo High School, who returned from the injury-list to score seven points, pass out two assists and make two steals on the afternoon.
On Sunday versus Niagara, the Fighting Tigers mauled the visiting Trail Blazers behind a ferocious defense and a ravenous offense led by freshman swing-player Jessica Byerwalters, Coeymans Hollow, NY, Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk High School, who scored a game high 17 points to lead all scores in the contest. Also reaching double digits in scoring were: Nichole Garzon who filled the stat sheet with 10 points, a career high of seven assists, six steals and five rebounds, Sharee Daniels who scored 14 points and grabbed five rebounds and Marie O’Malley who chipped in 11 points.
The Fighting Tiger bench also continued to produce productive minutes as freshman guard Laura Tisinger, Gloversville, NY, Gloversville High School, scored six points and made a pair of steals, freshman center/forward Hannah Bushey, Essex, VT, Essex High School, scored five points and had five rebounds and freshman Jessica Lane, Howes Cave, NY, Cobleskill-Richmondville High School, scored five points.
Cobleskill will return to action on Tuesday February 19th when they host the Broncos of SUNY Delhi in Mountain Valley Conference action beginning at 7:00 PM at the Iorio Gymnasium.
TIGER NOTES: The Fighting Tigers have now posted four consecutive twenty-win seasons under the direction of Head Coach Josh Suttles. Sharee Daniels is the sister of University of Rhode Island men’s basketball standout Will Daniels who is receiving heavy consideration for Atlantic 10 Conference Player-of-the-Year honors. The 2008 NJCAA Region III Division III Women’s Championship Tournament will by hosted by Tompkins-Cortland Community College in Dryden, NY beginning on Friday February 29th and running through Sunday March 2nd.
