North Adams, Mass.: The SUNY Cobleskill women's basketball team opened the 2017-18 with a hard fought non-conference 73-68 road loss to the host Trailblazers of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) on Wednesday evening. With the loss the Fighting Tigers open the season at 0-1 while MCLA stats the year at 1-0.
                                                         
Cobleskill go off to a slow start in the first half trailing 43-29 after two periods then spent the second half chipping away at the lead behind the stellar play of sophomore guard Addy Lawson, Cooperstown, N.Y., Milford High School, who posted a career high of 32 points connecting on 12-of-27 shots from the floor including 5-of-11 from beyond the three-point line. Lawson also had eight rebounds, six assists and four steals on the evening for the Orange & Black.
 
With 52 seconds remaining, Lawson drilled her fifth three-pointer of the evening to pull Cobleskill within 68-66, then stole the inbounds pass and her layup knotted the score at 68-68 forcing a Trailblazer timeout.  MCLA's Karina Mattera then drove to the hoop but missed point blank, however L'Rae Brundige pulled down the board.  Brundige would miss her attempt and Emily Moulton corralled the ball off the board.  With 24 seconds left Moulton swished home a ten-foot jumper making it 70-68 and forcing Cobleskill to call timeout.
 
The Fighting Tigers sophomore guard Shaliyah Graham, Bronx, N.Y. Martin Luther King High School, would drive the lane out of the timeout, however Moulton stepped in front and drew the offensive foul giving possession back to MCLA with just 13 seconds left to play.  Forced to foul MCLA, Cobleskill put Mckenzie Robinson to the free throw line and she promptly sank both attempts making it a two possession game.  Addy Lawson would then get called for a traveling violation out of a double team sealing the win for the Trailblazers.
 
In the loss, the Orange & Black received solid efforts from: Shaliyah Graham with nigh points and two assists, sophomore forward Stacey Sprague, Brand Gorge, N.Y., Roxbury High School, who scored eight points and pulled down a team high nine rebounds and sophomore guard Erica Cabrera, Middletown, N.Y., Burke Catholic High School, who scored nine points on the evening.
 
Cobleskill will next travel to New York, N.Y. over the weekend for the 2017 Hunter College Tip-off Tournament on Friday November 17^th where they will meet Olivet College in the tournament opener at 5:00 p.m. then will play on Saturday at either 11:00 a.m. or 1:00 p.m. depending on the Friday's outcome.