Box Score Newburgh, NY — With 2.8 seconds remaining, the State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team trailed by just a basket on the road against Mount Saint Mary College.
 
The Hawks (10-6) held possession in their front-court following a timeout and in-bounded to Marion Dietz, who held the hot-hand for SUNY New Paltz on the night, at the top of the arc. Dietz drove past her defender, and found some space in the lane to put up a floater as time expired. Dietz's shot narrowly went down, but instead hit the back, then the front of the rim before going out of play as the buzzer sounded, finalizing the 61-59 score.
 
"We had a couple of opportunities in the first half that we just weren't aggressive enough on," said Hawks coach Jamie Seward. "That kind of passive play not only took away opportunities for us to score, but gave them a couple easy baskets. Then we just couldn't string stops together in the fourth quarter. They pounded us on the their offensive glass and when you add all of that up, it led to the final result."
 
SUNY New Paltz held the early advantage and took its largest lead of the game five minutes into the contest, with Taylor Howell capping off the run after burying a 3, assisted by Rachel Simon.
 
Mount Saint Mary (12-5) worked itself back, however, ending the quarter on a 16-9 run to cut the deficit to four at the end of the first. The Knights then took their first lead with 39 seconds left in the half following a 3 by Janae Graham.
 
There were four different lead changes in the third quarter before Mount Saint Mary took a 38-37 lead with about four minutes to go. It held on to the advantage the rest of the period, but a basket by Madison Van Pelt with 37 seconds remaining cut the deficit to just one entering the fourth quarter.
 
The Knights extended its cushion by as many as eight twice in the final 10 minutes, but couldn't keep the Hawks at bay.

Dietz hit a jumper with 1 minute, 46 seconds remaining and chiseled the lead to just three. After a missed jumper on the other end, Van Pelt picked up the defensive rebound, got fouled and was sent to the foul line where she made 1-of-2 to cut the score, 59-57.
 
SUNY New Paltz then tied it up after getting second- and third-chance opportunities because of the work on the offensive glass by Demi Herasme and Van Pelt. Van Pelt kept the initial play alive following a Dietz miss and then Heramse ripped down her rebound after Simon's jumper, and got fouled on the put-back. The freshman then cooly knocked down both from the line with just seven seconds left to knot up the game at 59.
 
Following a timeout, Mount Saint Mary held possession on its offensive end. It in-bounded and worked the ball around before finding Jessica Rini open at the elbow. She put up her shot and swished it through with 2.8 seconds to spare and the Hawks were unable to counter on the other end.
 
SUNY New Paltz didn't shoot particularly well as a team, only making 28.8 percent of its shots, but did well getting to the free throw line and made 20-of-23 attempts.
 
Dietz led the way offensively with 19 points, while adding five rebounds an assist and a steal after playing all 40 minutes of the game. Van Pelt notched a double-double, after recording 11 points and 10 rebounds, four of which came on the offensive end. She also added three assists and two blocks. Simon followed with 10 points, three assists and four steals.
 
The loss put an end to a three-game winning streak for the Hawks, who hope to bounce back this weekend in SUNYAC play against Plattsburgh State and SUNY Potsdam. Be sure to follow @nphawks on Twitter and @newpaltzhawks on Instagram and Facebook for live updates, highlights, game recaps and more!