Although the State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team will be running thin on its depth chart entering its final home weekend of the regular season, the Hawks are confident they can earn two more SUNYAC wins before going on a six-game road stretch to end their 2017-18 campaign.

"Every win is important and everywhere we go is our home, so I'm not worried about this being our last home games," said SUNY New Paltz junior guard Taylor Howell following a recent practice. "I know everywhere we go, we're just going to make it our own. Yeah, it's important to get these two wins, but every game is important right now."

The Hawks (10-7 overall, 6-4 SUNYAC) are dealing with injuries to their two starters, Lindsay Bettke (ankle) and Paige Niemeyer (knee) and hoping to get some of their young role players to step up in larger roles.

"Having Lindsay and Paige out is definitely a difficulty, but we do have players stepping up and ready to come in and play their part," Howell said. "We aren't asking anybody to be Lindsay or asking anybody to be Paige, we're asking them to play themselves."

Marion Dietz, who has ranked second behind Bettke this season in points per game, in particular has seen her work load increase and has become the Hawks' go-to scorer, but the sophomore guard said she's up for the challenge.

"I'm willing to do anything that needs to be done to get us two wins this weekend," Dietz said. "Paige and Lindsay being out is big for us, especially on the offensive end, but they are going to be leading us on the sideline as always and I have full confidence that we're going to be fine this weekend."

Dietz was the catalyst in the past two games for SUNY New Paltz, but despite scoring a team-high 19 points in their most recent match up Monday on the road against Mount Saint Mary College, the Hawks came up short, losing in the final seconds, 61-59, which snapped a three-game win streak.

"After our loss on Monday we had a meeting on Tuesday and watched some film," Dietz said. "We talked about how we let some fouls in the beginning of the fourth quarter and some lapses on defense effect how we play later in the quarter, and how those fouls at the end of the fourth quarter really mattered."

With the loss to the Knights behind them, the Hawks are focused on their first games of the season against Plattsburgh State and SUNY Potsdam.

Both teams sit toward the bottom of the conference standings, with the Cardinals (6-11, 5-6) currently in eighth and the Bears in last (1-16, 0-11).

"I know Potsdam don't win a lot, but they are definitely a strong, tough team," Dietz said. "Plattsburgh is scrappy too. They don't have a truck load of talent, but they definitely attack the boards and drive. They're really tough too."

Plattsburgh State, which is coming off a win Tuesday against SUNY Potsdam, is a decent 5-5 on the road this season. Taylor Durnin leads the team offensively, averaging 11.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. As a team, the Cardinals total about 59 points on 34.2 percent shooting from the field per game, while allowing nearly 64 points against.

Meanwhile, the Bears' only win has come on the road in a 64-55 victory against SUNY Canton on Nov. 17. They don't have a player averaging in double-figure points, but Riley Luckie and Drew Dufrane have led the team offensively, netting 9.5 and 7.8 points per game.

SUNY Potsdam has scored more than 60 points just once this season, and on average have allowed opposing teams to score around 68 points per game.

"I definitely feel confident going into this weekend," Howell said. "I'm not worried about it at all. I mean of course we're focusing on it, but every game is just another game. So we're going to go after it like any other game."

The Hawks are scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off Friday against Plattsburgh State and are back in the Hawk Center Saturday at 3 p.m. to take on the Bears. Be sure to follow @nphawks on Twitter and @newpaltzhawks on Instagram and Facebook for live updates, highlights, game recaps and more!