By: Dylan O'Loughlin
The No. 4 Brockport Golden Eagles women's basketball team headed into the SUNYAC playoffs on a four-game win streak and earned a home game against No. 5 Oswego State Lakers. The Lakers went on the road and played their best game of the season. Oswego beat Brockport 70-47 in the first round of SUNYAC playoff action.
Zairea Hannah finished the game with a double-double for the tenth time this season (Photo Credits: Brockport Athletics)
"Well, I think a couple of their players that transferred in mid-year played really well," Brockport head coach Corrine Jones said. "Macey DeOrdio went 8-for-10 from three and Zhane Homles was hitting mid-range jumpers, so you're going to beat our zone when you do that, and I think those two really beat us."
DeOrdio led all scorers today with 30 points. She knocked down eight threes, making history to go along with it. She tied the most threes made in a game by an Oswego State player. She also tied the most threes made in a SUNYAC playoff game.
For Brockport, they could not get anything going. Only one player finished in double figures. Senior Zairea Hannah finished with 23 points and 13 rebounds in her final game as a Golden Eagle. To go along with the double-double, Hannah's name will be in the record books as in her two-year career as a Golden Eagle, she tied for the fourth highest rebounds in a game this season with 20 against Oswego State on January 5. She set a new record for rebounds per game in a season with 12.4, breaking a 31-year record set by DJ Hensley in the 1992-1993 season with 11.4. The transfer from Monroe Community College made an impact on the glass in her two-years. Hannah hauled in 559 rebounds, 311 this season which broke the single season record for rebounds in a season for Brockport and puts her 11th all time on the total rebounds list just six rebounds behind Renee Stewart who tallied 565 from 1984-1988.
"It means a lot to me," Hannah said. "I was able to push through all the adversities through the season. I started off slow, but I was able to find the answer. The culture here and the process enabled me to do what I can on the floor. But it means a lot to me to leave my legacy, leave it on the floor, and then just to have something that I'll be remembered for as someone else can break it and have it be a trend to show what the Brockport women's basketball team is about, and how we really don't give up. It's something words can't explain, but it means a lot."
Oswego came out the gates swinging. DeOrdio started off the scoring with a three from the top of the key. Brockport responded quickly with a Hannah layup. After that the Lakers went on a 13-0 run and opened up a 15-2 lead with 3:39 to play in the first. At the end of the first, Brockport trailed 20-9 and all nine of the Golden Eagles points came from the hands of Hannah.
In the second, it was much of the same. DeOrdio would keep the hot hand as she knocked down four shots from beyond the arc to give her 23 at the half. She shot 7-for-7 from the three-point-line. She outscored the Golden Eagles by herself as at the half Brockport only had 19, 15 of those points coming from Hannah. After the first 20, Brockport trailed by 18, 37-19 at halftime.
After the half, it was much of the same. The Lakers would start the half on a 9-2 run thanks to a DeOrdio three to officially tie the record with 8:31 remaining in the third. This would extend the lead to as much as 23, but the Golden Eagles went on a 6-0 run of their own to cut the lead to 17. That's as close they would get. Oswego's Elania Johnson would get a quick four points to extend the lead back out to 21 then at the buzzer Sydney Hoefs knocked down a circus style mid-range jumper. She caught the ball mid-air and shot it to extend the lead to 23 at the end of the third.
Senior Hail Lucia standing on the Brockport center court logo (Photo Credits: Brockport Athletics)
In the fourth, Brockport played their best basketball, but it was too large of a deficit to overcome. Six players would put points on the board including all the seniors for the Golden Eagles. The four seniors who played their last game today were Hannah, Hali Lucia, Zoe Zutes and Kelsey Morgans. The quarter would end in a tie 16-16 and the Oswego State Lakers would cruise to victory.
Lucia finished the game with four points, two assists, and five rebounds. Morgans ended with four points and Zutes would end her season with two points, four steals, and seven rebounds. It wasn't the way they wanted their careers to end, but they will remember it forever.
"I'm really thankful for the teams that I've played with, the people I've played with," Lucia said. "I've learned from all of them, I'm thankful for my coaches. Honestly, it just flew by, I wish I had another year. But I am thankful, and that's really the only word I have is thankful."
The seniors for the Golden Eagles will be remembered and another one to stitch their name into the record books is Zoe Zutes. Zutes had a breakout year this season as she officially became second all-time in blocks for the Golden Eagles with 113. She is also 11th all time with threes made in a season as she knocked down 42 as the best three-point shooter in the SUNYAC this season.
Zoe Zutes directing traffic in the corner (Photo Credits: Brockport Athletics)
"I think the only difference between this year and years past was my confidence," Zutes said. "I mean, CJ (Coach Jones) would hate me to say this, but I haven't touched a basketball since last season coming into this season and I didn't do anything different except for having some confidence in myself and my teammates had confidence in me going into the winter and spring semester. It's a shame that I'm not going to use my fourth year, but I'm glad I could have ended it like this."
Even though the Golden Eagles lost in the first round of SUNYACS for the fifth time in eight seasons, there is still a lot of good to takeaway. This season was the first time since 2009 where the Golden Eagles hosted a playoff game. It was also the first season under Coach Jones where Brockport finished above .500. With a lot of returners the Golden Eagles look to build upon this heading into next season.
"Yeah, I mean I just said our culture is really strong to our team and we just want to keep building off what we had," Jones said. "And, you know we've had some seniors that trusted it and left their legacy and we're going to keep building off of what they left as we get Team 49 going."
The Brockport Golden Eagles Pregame (Photo Credits: Brockport Athletics)
The Brockport Golden Eagles finish their season with a 14-12 record, 10-8 in conference play ending their SUNYAC tenure on a high note. They look to carry these highs into next season as they head to the Empire Eight, a whole new conference with a whole new challenge for the Golden Eagles.
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