Box Score

BROCKPORT, N.Y. – Head coach Jamie Seward earned his 150th career win as the State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team held off The College at Brockport 72-69 on Saturday evening.
 
With the win, the Hawks move to 15-8, 11-5 State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) and are in third place in the league standings. New Paltz will host Buffalo State and SUNY Fredonia on Feb. 20-21 to conclude the regular season. Brockport falls to 6-16, 4-11 SUNYAC and hosts SUNY Cortland on Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 7:30 p.m.
 
Seward moves to 150-88 overall, with a 107-47 mark in the SUNYAC. Four players finished in double digits for New Paltz as the Hawks were led by 13 points off the bench from junior guard/forward Colleen Ames (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst). As a team, the New Paltz bench outscored Brockport's 39-8 and scored 25 points off of 25 Golden Eagle turnovers.
 
Sophomore guard/forward Kit Small (Slingerlands, N.Y./Academy of the Holy Names) produced 12 points, including an 8-of-9 showing from the foul line. Freshman guard Sydney Pinn (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) tallied 11 points while senior guard Shannan Walker (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) notched 10 points behind a trio of three-pointers. Both Ames and Small collected four assists each. Nine players scored points for Seward and seven scored at least six points.
 
For Brockport, junior forward Olivia Suhr poured in a game-high 33 points, going 10-of-10 from the foul line, and pulling down 11 boards. Suhr also tallied three blocks, three steals and three assists. Sophomore guard Faith Welch chipped in 14 points. New Paltz held off Brockport despite letting the Golden Eagles shoot 48.9 percent from the field (23-of-47).
 
With 47 seconds left in the game, New Paltz trailed by one 67-66. Small drew a foul and hit both of her ensuing free throws to give the Hawks a one-point edge, 68-67. On the next possession for New Paltz, Pinn knocked down two more foul shots to put the Hawks ahead by three, 70-67, with 37 ticks left.
 
On the other end, Suhr knocked in a layup to cut the Hawk lead to one (70-69) with 19 seconds on the clock. Walker and Pinn both made one-of-two free throws in the last 17 seconds to escape Brockport with the crucial league win.
 
In the first half, New Paltz controlled the action and jumped out to a 12-5 advantage in the first seven minutes. The Hawks increased that lead to 10 points (23-13) following a Pinn layup at 10:39 and went ahead by as many as 12 points on a few occasions. But Brockport remained resilient and trimmed that lead down to just one, 28-27, using a 14-5 spurt over the next seven minutes. New Paltz remained ahead until the Golden Eagles knotted the contest at 31 with 1:39 to go.
 
Junior guard Christine Rivera (Long Beach, N.Y./Valley Stream) knocked down a three at 1:20 but a pair of Brockport shots in the last 28 seconds of play gave the home team a one-point lead at halftime, 35-34.
 
The second half was back-and-forth until New Paltz opened up with a 9-0 run, capped off by a Pinn three, to take a 46-38 lead at 14:45. From the 12:11 mark of the second half with New Paltz ahead 50-44, neither team would enjoy a lead of more than six points as the Hawks would go on to hold off the Golden Eagles.