The fourth ranked Onondaga Community College women's basketball team captured the 2018 Region III-Division III Championship Sunday afternoon with a 97-80 win over Columbia-Greene Community College. The championship was first for the OCC's women's basketball program in the five years while CGCC was competing in their first championship game in program history. The Lazers advance to the NJCAA Division III Women's National Basketball Tournament March 15-17, at the the RVC Physical Education Center in Rockford, Illinois.
Onondaga advanced to the championship game with an 80-73 upset win over the top seed and tournament host, Finger Lakes Community College, in the first of two semifinals Saturday afternoon. Columbia-Greene pulled off their own upset as they followed the OCC win with a 61-51 win over second seed, North Country Community College.
CGCC got off to a quick start in the Sunday's championship game with a pair of three-point field goals in their first three posessions as they built an early 6-2 lead just a minute into the contest. Onondaga would respond both offensively and defensively as they used a 12-0 run to open up a 14-6 with four minutes remaining in the first quarter forcing a Columbia-Greene timeout. The Twins would respond with a 9-4 run of their own to close the gap to three as OCC led 18-15 with three and a half minutes remaining in the opening quarter. Onondaga would close the quarter with an 11-5 to lead 29-20 after the first ten minutes of play.
Onondaga would take control of the game in the second quarter as the Twins went cold from the field. The Lazers would outscore the Twins 20-0 to start the second stanza including six points from Shannon Foehl and five from Payton Noeller as they opened up a 49-20 lead. CGCC's Daniella Weinschreider would hit a jumper to end the run for OCC with three minutes remaining before the half. Consistent scoring from both teams would give OCC a 56-29 heading into the locker room. OCC's starting forward duo of Samantha Britton (13 points) and Sydni Eure (11 points) would lead the Lazers in the first half while Rachel Scalisi and Foehl added eight. Region III Player of the Year, Tanisha Edge, led the Twins with 9 first half points, Weinschreider added eight, and All'aha Albright tallied seven.
OCC would score the first six points of the second half to push the lead to 61-29 in the first two minutes of the third quarter before Columbia-Greene would make a 28-6 run behind 17 points from Edge, including five three-point field goals, over the next six minutes to pull within ten as OCC held on to a 67-57 lead with two mintues remaining in the third quarter. The Twins would get no closer as Onondaga would respond with a 8-2 run to take a 75-59 lead heading into the fourth quarter. The Lazers would continue to pull away in the final ten minutes as they opened up the lead once again leading 94-70 with just over two minutes remaining. The Twins made one final run but the Lazers emerged champions with the 97-80 victory.
Sydni Eure (pictured right) was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament after posting back-to-back double-double's with 18 points and 14 rebounds in the semifinals and 27 points and 14 rebounds in the championship game. She was joined on the All-Tournament team by teammates Samantha Britton and Payton Noeller, CGCC's Tanisha Edge, who led all scorers with 43 points in the championship game, Finger Lakes CC's Ranaveya Richards, and North Country CC's Ty Taylor.
