Tournament Page
GENESEO, N.Y. – For the third straight season and the fourth time in five years, the women's basketball team at the State University of New York at New Paltz will be one of the last four teams standing in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Tournament.
After dropping four of five games from Dec. 6 to Jan. 10, the Hawks rattled off a nice stretch to end the regular season, winning 11 of their final 12 contests. 11
th-year head coach
Jamie Seward and his assistant coaching staff made several adjustments to get back on the winning track.
"We never doubted that we had a lot of talent on this team but I did not do a really good job of putting that talent together," Seward explained. "So, I made some adjustments, listened to my assistants a little bit better and just tried to stay out of their way a little bit."
The No. 2 seed Hawks will take on No. 6 seed Brockport on Friday, Feb. 24 at 5:30 p.m. Host No. 1 seed Geneseo will play No. 4 seed Cortland at 7:30 p.m. The 2017 SUNYAC Championship will be on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 4 p.m., as New Paltz looks to win it's third-ever title in program history.
"We have a number of freshmen who we rely on heavily and two four-year seniors who have played in their third straight," Seward explained. "But other than them, this is only the second for a couple other of our players and for half of our team this is their first time around in the postseason.
"So hopefully, the upperclassmen and the seniors can relay their experience and help the freshman understand the urgency of the moment and the different intensity levels that these do or die games are played with."
NEW PALTZ (16-8): The Hawks have gone 2-4 against the three other Final Four programs this season, collecting a pair of wins against Brockport… Senior
Kit Small leads the team in nearly every category, averaging 12.8 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 2.8 apg and 1.9 spg… New Paltz last faced Brockport in the 2008 Semifinals, dropping a 76-68 OT decision… The Hawks fell to Cortland in the 2015 Semifinals, 57-48… New Paltz has won the last two contests against Geneseo, both in the title game.
BROCKPORT (10-16): The Golden Eagles knocked off No. 3 Oneonta on Tuesday night in the quarterfinals 70-64… Senior Hannah Rehbaum scored a team-high 19 points… In the first game against New Paltz this year, Lindsay Johnson tallied 20 points and 14 rebounds… In the second contest, Rehbaum led the offense with 18 points.
Coach Seward on playing Brockport:
"I think to a certain degree it is kind of irrelevant what happened in the regular season; everything kind of starts anew and they have a fresh start and we have a fresh start. What happened in the regular season does not really carry a whole lot over other than being able to watch what we did against one another and trying to figure out what we can do this time. But, it's a new game and obviously the stakes are different so we are going to have to play this one and not rely on the ones we won in the regular season."
NO. 15 GENESEO (25-0): The Knights earned the top seed in the postseason with their undefeated regular campaign… Geneseo won the first game versus New Paltz this year on Dec. 2, 66-47… Kara Houppert led the Knights with 18 points… In game two, Geneseo came away with a 56-39 win, led again by Houppert who scored 18 points… McKenna Brooks enjoyed 16 points and 11 boards off the bench.
CORTLAND (13-13): The Red Dragons went 2-0 against New Paltz this season but the teams have not faced each other since Jan. 6… Cortland defeated No. 5 seed Fredonia in the quarterfinals 55-51… In the first game on Dec. 6, Alyssa Crosby tallied a double double with 21 points and 13 rebounds… Cassidy Chapko enjoyed 15 points in a 62-49 win against New Paltz on Jan. 6.
Coach Seward on playing either Geneseo or Cortland:
"Honestly, we're just trying to focus on getting there. We have not done a whole lot with preparations for anything other than dealing with ourselves because we did not know whom we would be playing until last night after practice. We are kind of just focusing on ourselves, we will have a couple days to prepare for Brockport and we are going to take it one game at a time and see where that leads us after Friday night."
