Box Score Ten days after being crowned NJCAA Region 3 champions, the Onondaga Community College women's basketball team traveled to Rockford, Illinois as the number 7 seed in the national tournament to take on Hostos Community College.  While being ranked as the number 1 team in the nation for the past 10 weeks and being undefeated for their last 20 games, Hostos received the number 2 seed in the tournament.
 
In a rematch of an early season contest between the two teams, Hostos used a strong third period, tenacious rebounding, and clutch foul shooting down the stretch to come away with a 73-64 win in the eight team tournament.   With the loss, the Lazers move to the consolation bracket of the tournament to take on Rochester (Minnesota) Technical & Community College at 4pm ET on Friday, March 16.


After a closely contested first period that saw Onondaga come away with a 17-15 lead, the Lazers pulled ahead by 7 points at halftime (33-26) led by the strong inside play of Sydni Eure (East Syracuse – Minoa) and the three point shooting of guards Michaela Whiteman (G.Ray Bodley – Fulton) and Payton Noeller (Cato – Meridian) who both knocked down two 3-pointers in the first half.
 
Hostos took control of the game after halftime by continuing to pound the offensive glass - which gave them numerous second chance scoring opportunities.  For the game the Lazers were outrebounded by Hostos 54-34 with Hostos collecting 27 offensive rebounds.
 
Samantha Britton (Kenmore West – Buffalo) kept the game close in the second half by scoring 14 of her team high 16 points but the rebounding edge proved to be the difference as Onondaga fell to 26-7 for the season with the loss.