Box Score Box Score

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – Smothering defense suffocated SUNY Plattsburgh, as the State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team (2-3, 1-0 SUNYAC) defeated the Cardinals (2-3, 0-1 SUNYAC) by a 67-55 final in the 2010-11 State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) opener for both teams Friday evening at Memorial Hall.

New Paltz forced Plattsburgh into 44 turnovers, many of which were caused by junior guard Kaitlin Clifford (Staten Island, N.Y.). Clifford pilfered the ball seven times—a game high—in 34 minutes of action.

Four Hawks reached double figures in scoring. Junior guard Zoe Cohen (Brooklyn, N.Y.) poured in a career-high 15 points to lead the visitors, while sophomore forward Alex McCullough (Delmar, N.Y.) drained 13 to go along with 10 boards. Clifford and sophomore guard Maliqua Fisher (North Babylon, N.Y.) posted matching totals of 10 points each. McCullough once again was a force down low, swatting four shots to bring her per-game season average to 2.6 blocks per game.

Plattsburgh was led by Taylor Amarando, whose 16 points off 5-of-10 shooting from the floor and 6-of-11 shooting from the free-throw line led all scorers. Kathleen Payne and Lindsey Larivee totaled 11 points apiece. Amarando also tied McCullough for the game-high in rebounds with 10.

Despite the loss, Plattsburgh shot better than New Paltz from the floor, boasting a 38.3 field-goal percentage (18-of-47) to the Hawks' 34.9 (22-of-63). The Cardinals also held the edge in rebounds, caroming 42 rebounds to New Paltz's 40.

The Cardinals scored the first points of the game and led for a good portion of the first five minutes of the first half. New Paltz, however, would go on an 11-1 tear from the 11:13 mark to the 8:03 mark. Fisher capped off the run with two made foul shots.

The Hawks took a 33-22 advantage into the intermission and relied heavily on their bench in the first 20 minutes of action. Eighteen of the team's 33 first-half points came from reserve players.

New Paltz came out of the break hot, going on an 8-0 run that was punctuated by an old-fashioned three-point play by Fisher with 15:42 left on the clock. Fisher was fouled during a successful layup attempt, and she knocked down the continuation free throw to extend the lead to 17 and push the score to 41-24 in favor of the blue and orange.

Plattsburgh sliced into the lead for the next five minutes, scoring 10 unanswered points to bring the score to 41-34. New Paltz responded by posting seven unanswered over the next two minutes and built up a 14-point lead.

That sizable cushion would not last, as the Cardinals assembled a timely 12-2 run over the span of three quick minutes and put themselves within four points of the Hawks at 50-46 off of a made Amarando free-throw shot with 5:19 left. New Paltz, however, stormed back due to the steady hand of Fisher, who scored four points in a 6-0 run. Her layup with 1:49 remaining gave the Hawks a 58-48 lead. New Paltz hit its free throws down the stretch, drilling nine of its 10 attempts from the charity stripe in the final minute to put the game on ice.

The Hawks finish up their North Country trip tomorrow afternoon when they travel to the campus of SUNY Potsdam to take on the Bears in a league clash. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.