The Fredonia State Blue Devils lost to the Oneonta Red Dragons, 56-46, in a SUNYAC womens basketball game, at Dods Hall on Saturday.

In the early moments of the game, Fredonia State was controlling possession. The Blue Devils were doing a good job of limiting the Red Dragons time on offense, but were unable to put up points of their own. The Blue Devils’ slow start began to change, as they heated up halfway through the first quarter. Fredonia State (7-8, 4-4) hit back to back 3-pointers headed into the second, taking a 8-5 lead.

“They’re the top defensive team in the league and we’re the second top defensive team in the league,” said Fredonia State head coach Sarah Cartmill. “It was a matter of two defensive teams doing what they do, so that’s probably why it was single-digits in the first quarter.”

In the second quarter the Blue Devils continued their success from long range. The long-range shooting began to open up the low post, making it difficult for Oneonta to defend.

OBSERVER Photo by Ron Szot Fredonia’s Sarah Keast (21) brings the ball up the court during Saturday’s game against the Oneonta Red Dragons, at Dods Hall, in Fredonia.

“I thought we did a good job shooting the ball from the perimeter,” said Coach Cartmill. “That’s not our calling card, but we did a good job offensively getting some penetration in kicks and being shot-confident. I think against a team like this, that is not going to allow you to get to the rim, you need to make some shots. We did a decent job with that.”

The second quarter was going at a much higher pace, as both teams were getting good looks offensively. This was both good and bad for the Blue Devils as Oneonta started to heat up. The lead was exchanged frequently down the stretch. At halftime the Blue Devils were trailing, 24-22.

The second half picked right up where the first left off — high speed. The Blue Devils jumped out early, scoring on their first two possessions and taking a quick lead. The Red Dragons were not slowing down either, as they maintained pace with Fredonia State. After two minutes, the score was 31-29, Oneonta with the advantage. Each teams exchanged scores throughout the intense third quarter, culminating with a 39-35 Oneonta lead.

“I thought defensively we held our own for a majority of the game, they’re a tough offensive team,” said Coach Cartmill.

Entering the final quarter trailing by just four points, the Blue Devils had their sights set on coming back. The Red Dragons had other plans, as they had a spectacular quarter offensively.

Oneonta scored 17 points in the fourth quarter opposed to Fredonia State’s 11.

“They’re very consistent,” said Coach Cartmill. “We did some good things offensively, but I think we had a couple lulls within the game that hurt us, against a team like that who’s so disciplined on the defensive end, it hurt us.”

Once the deficit reached double-digits, the Red Dragons began to drown out the clock and the hopes of a comeback was lost. The final score at the buzzer was 56-46 in favor of Oneonta.

The Blue Devils effort was led Sydney Turley. Turley came off the bench and put up 14 points, along with four rebounds. Katie Pitcher also had a good night, scoring six points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

“I thought Sydney Turley had a great game, I thought she came in and gave a lot of energy,” said Coach Cartmill.

Fredonia State outscored Oneonta in the paint 24-18 in the game.

“We had a couple instances, segments of the game where we didn’t do our job and they made us pay for it. That’s what good teams are going to do, but we hung with one of the top teams in the league and gave ourselves a chance to be in the game. That’s something to build on for the next time we play them,” said Coach Cartmill. “When we play them again, we know that we can compete and have a chance to beat a team like this, who is going to be one of the top three teams in our conference. … I think that we should come out disappointed that we lost, but happy that we’re in a position where we can compete with a team like that.”

The Blue Devils will travel to Geneseo next, on Tuesday, as they look to get back into the win column.