Box Score Box Score

ONEONTA, N.Y. – A two-point halftime lead evaporated for the State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team (15-10, 13-5 SUNYAC), as the Hawks lost in their regular-season finale to SUNY Oneonta (19-6, 13-5 SUNYAC), 71-61, on Friday evening in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) action.

The most important result of the evening for the Hawks came in Cortland, N.Y., as league-leading SUNY Geneseo topped SUNY Cortland by a 61-52 final. With the loss, Cortland secured the No. 4 seed in the 2011 SUNYAC Women's Basketball Tournament. Should Cortland lose to The College at Brockport tomorrow afternoon, New Paltz will hold the No. 2 seed based on tie-breakers. However, should Cortland win, the Hawks will have the No. 3 seed based on tie-breakers.

Friday night's clash between New Paltz and Oneonta featured a number of runs, and the lead changed hands six times throughout the course of the contest.

After Oneonta's Mary Kate O'Connell scored the opening basket 1:14 into the game, the Hawks went on a 9-0 run, and a made jumper by junior guard Zoe Cohen (Brooklyn, N.Y.) put the Hawks up 9-2. The Red Dragons, however, answered with a 7-0 run, during which Grace Schilling scored five points. New Paltz controlled the game up until Oneonta went on a 9-0 tear and went up 24-17 with 4:25 to go in the first half.

Sophomore guard Maliqua Fisher (North Babylon, N.Y.) cut two points off the deficit by knocking down a pair of free throws, and junior guard/forward Bridget Grover (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) made it a four-point game with a made free throw of her own at the 3:04 mark. Sophomore forward Alex McCullough (Delmar, N.Y.) cut the lead to two with a jumper, and Fisher drained four unanswered points to put New Paltz ahead by two. Junior guard Caitlin Irwin (Brooklyn, N.Y.) capped off this eight-point spurt by hitting two free throws.

Oneonta's Samantha Szkotak cashed in on two free-throw attempts with 30 ticks remaining in the first, and New Paltz entered the locker room with a 28-26 edge.

The Red Dragons went on an 11-0 run to open the second half, and Szkotak's trey with 15:35 to go in the second put Oneonta up nine. The Hawks went on a 5-0 tear and continued to come within striking distance of the home team until junior point guard Kaitlin Clifford (Staten Island, N.Y.) converted on a layup attempt with 6:54 left in regulation to give New Paltz its first lead of the half. Oneonta cleaned up the offensive glass well down the stretch and did its job at the line, allowing the Hawks to get just one defensive rebound off of Red Dragon free-throw tries in the final minute.

The Hawks had issues shooting the basketball from the floor, going 31.4 percent (16-of-51) on the night. Oneonta, however, shot 44.0 percent (22-of-50), including a 51.9 percent (14-of-27) mark in the second half. New Paltz outrebounded Oneonta, 37-32, while the Hawks committed 25 turnovers to the Red Dragons' 23. Neither squad could hit the three ball, as New Paltz shot 16.7 percent (3-of-18) from beyond the arc on the contest, while Oneonta went 2-of-13 (15.4 percent) from distance.

Fisher scored 20 points to lead the blue and orange, going 14-of-16 at the free-throw line and 3-of-4 from the field. She also performed well on the defensive end of the floor, corralling four steals. McCullough chipped in 13 points, while Cohen and sophomore guard Kahsyrah Bryant (North Babylon, N.Y.) each scored 10 coming off the bench. McCullough filled out the stat sheet with three blocks, six rebounds, two assists and two steals, while Irwin dished out four assists.

For Oneonta, Madison Slagle led four Red Dragons in double figures with 17 points. Erika Puffer, Kristin Pappalardo and Szkotak all dropped in 10 points, while O'Connell caromed a game-high seven rebounds. Pappalardo boasted four steals, while Szkotak handed out a game-high five assists in 23 minutes of action.

New Paltz will now do scoreboard watching tomorrow afternoon as the rest of the SUNYAC finishes league play. The Hawks will return to action on Tuesday, Feb. 22, at 7 p.m. in the Hawk Center against an opponent to be determined in the quarterfinal round of the SUNYAC Tournament.