Devils drop thriller
A three-pointer by Jacque Law (Machias/Pioneer) with 19 seconds left tied the game, yet league-leading Geneseo pulled out a 55-54 victory over Fredonia in SUNYAC basketball action on Saturday.
The Knights' Kara Houppert missed the first of two free throws with five seconds left. Following a timeout, she sank the second shot to break the tie. Fredonia set up a unsuccessful last-second shot by Jenna Einink (Westfield/Chautauqua Lake), whose 18 points led the Blue Devils. Senior guard Khee Nance (Dunkirk, N.Y./Dunkirk) added 10 points off the bench. Jamie Curry (Ransomville/Wilson) had a team-high seven rebounds.
The Blue Devils fell to 7-2 in the SUNYAC, 12-3 overall. The Knights improved to 8-0 and 14-0.
As they had the night before against Brockport, the Blue Devils found themselves trailing by double digits at the half. Behind 29-18 at the break, They outscored Geneseo 20-12 in the third quarter to make it a three-point game, 41-38. A layup by Sarah Sweazy (Rochester, N.Y./Rush Henrietta) tied the game at 42-all with 7:28 left to play. The teams were tied three more times before Houppert sank the decisive free throw.
Fredonia's Alexis Cheatham (Lockport/Lockport) -- the career three-point leader in program history -- was 0 for 9 from long range. Law and Einink picked up the slack, combining to go 6 of 10 from long range, each knocking down three. Law finished with nine points, and Sweazy with seven.
Fredonia hit 36 percent of their shots compared to 33 percent by Geneseo. The Blue Devils were 5 of 5 from the foul line, Geneseo 13 of 19 (68 percent). Geneseo's Brooks McKenna had 14 points off the bench and Kayleigh Cavanaugh grabbed 11 rebounds.
The Blue Devils have a pair of home games next weekend -- vs. New Paltz at 7:30 p.m. Friday and vs. Oneonta at 4 p.m. Saturday.
