Box Score New Paltz, NY — The game got away from the State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team Saturday against visiting SUNY Geneseo.
 
With the Hawks (3-3 overall, 1-1 SUNYAC) leading by as many as 17 in the second quarter, the Knights (6-1, 2-0) worked their way back in the second half and capped it off with a 58-56 victory.
 
"Having this opportunity to get this one at home makes it that much worse that we didn't [get the win]," said SUNY New Paltz coach Jamie Seward. "[Geneseo is] a young team, they're a talented team and I think to be able to do what they did and come back the way they did that's certainly going to make them very difficult to deal with moving forward."
 
The Hawks defense stepped up to allow just nine first quarter points, and held the Geneseo without a basket until 6 minutes, 44 seconds remaining in the period. In the half they caused 18 Knight turnovers, netting 13 points off those miscues.
 
SUNY New Paltz's offense started picking up in the second quarter thanks to some stout 3-point shooting from Lindsay Bettke and Paige Niemeyer, who combined for 5-for-11 from behind the arc in the first half. Their hot-hand propelled a 17-3 run to end the half, which ballooned SUNY New Paltz's advantage, 32-17 at the break.
 
However the Knights slowly crept back in the second half, getting within 12 entering the fourth quarter and finally re-gaining the lead with 55 seconds remaining in the game.
 
"We said one possession at a time to try and get ourselves back into it," said Geneseo coach Scott Hemer. "I challenged them in the locker room a little bit at halftime, just talking about my expectations for them were maybe a little unrealistic and I hope they took that personally. It seemed like they came out and played with a little bit more determination and primarily the commitment to some of the details in the second half, and for us that was the big difference."
 
With the Knights up by one, the Hawks called a timeout with about 49 seconds remaining. Out of the timeout, they found Niemeyer for 3, but she couldn't connect and SUNY New Paltz was called on a loose ball foul on the rebound.
 
McKenna Brooks made both at the line for Geneseo to push the score 55-52 with 30.5 seconds left. Dietz earned another trip to the line following another Hawks timeout and cut the deficit, 55-54.
 
With 15.5 seconds remaining, SUNY New Paltz sent Kelsey Poplawski to the foul line and after making both extended the advantage back to three.
 
Following another timeout, the Hawks held possession in the front-court and quickly in-bounded to set up a play. Geneseo's defense held firm and they couldn't find an open look. The ball got kicked out to Niemeyer standing behind the arc, but with a defender coming out, she took a dribble inside the perimeter and knocked down the jumper at the key to cut the score, 57-56. But with just 1.4 seconds left on the clock there wasn't enough time for another good look at the hoop, which allowed the Knights to close out with the win.
 
"Early in the possession we thought we could get a 2, but we ended up making a few passes and at that point we should have taken a 3," Seward said of their final offensive possession. "I thought we lost the game in the end of third quarter with some untimely fouls, but we had many chances to win in the fourth quarter and we just weren't tough enough to make a couple of plays, secure a couple of rebounds and finish the game. That's unfortunately been the common theme. We just haven't been tough enough to win right now."
 
Bettke led her team with 19 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals. Niemeyer followed with 12 points, four rebounds and two steals.

The Hawks will try and bounce-back Tuesday, when they hit the road to take on SUNY Cortland for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off. For live updates, highlights, photos, videos and more be sure to follow @nphawks on Twitter and @newpaltzhawks on Instagram and Facebook.