Box Score New Paltz, NY — Guided by its stingy first-half defensive effort, the State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team collected its third-straight win and second conference victory of the season after defeating visiting Oswego State, 58-48.
 
"Very important [to get a win]," said Hawks coach Jamie Seward. "Starting 1-3 in the conference we put ourselves in a pretty good hole. Definitely need to get any wins we can get the rest of the way. We're going to need them. They're all going to be just as important moving forward."

SUNY New Paltz (6-5 overall, 2-3 SUNYAC) didn't shoot well in the first half, but was active defensively, forcing the Lakers into tough shots and tight passes, resulting in eight caused turnovers.
 
"I don't know how much of it was them maybe not making some shots early on, but number's wise we certainly looked good on paper," Seward said. "I didn't think we had a ton of break down's where they had a ton of wide-open shots or anything until the fourth quarter when we gave up easy shots around the basket. But we did a good job on their two big guns and that was really what we were trying to do, make some other people beat us. But overall, not going to complain too much about the defense."
 
Although Oswego State (4-8 overall, 1-4 SUNYAC) netted the opening points of the game, the Hawks started taking control midway through the quarter, scoring nine straight to end the first 10 minutes with a 9-4 lead.
 
SUNY New Paltz was carried by its defense in the second quarter as well, and ultimately held the Lakers to just 15 first half points and 24.1 percent shooting from the field on 7-of-29 attempts.
 
"They are a very good defensive team. Their numbers don't show it because in the beginning of the year they're playing so many young kids… they were nowhere as strong defensively as they are now," said Oswego State coach Sean Pinkerton. "They do a good job on the defensive end of the floor. I think we missed some shots and there were times where our execution within our offense was sloppy and against a good defensive team if you're sloppy in your execution and you're not really sharp, you're not going to score, you're not going to get those high percentage scoring opportunities."
 
Entering the second half with an eight-point advantage, the Hawks opened up the third quarter hot and scored 10 unanswered points to build on their lead that ultimately ballooned to as many as 20 points midway through the period.
 
"Not that I knew we'd come out with a 10-0 run, but I felt like we were sitting on one," Seward said. "First half even though we scored [23] points in the half, I felt like we were getting shots that we would eventually make and we were sitting on a run eventually. I was hoping it would be to start the half and it turned it was."
 
However, the Lakers slowly crept back into the game, dominating on the boards and earning trips to foul line. They ended the quarter with a 6-2 advantage, scoring all six of their points from the charity stripe. Nicole Ziogas put an end to the run after sinking her runner in the paint as time expired to put SUNY New Paltz back up by 16.
 
Oswego State kept chipping away at the Hawks lead. Its dominance under the basket gave the Lakers the edge in the fourth quarter. They continued earning trips to the foul line and picked up key rebounds down the stretch to keep themselves in it.
 
"I thought after that stretch after the first six and half minutes [of the third quarter], we did a much better job executing on both ends of the floor," Pinkerton said. "But the first seven minutes of the second half our execution, both offensively and defensively, were atrocious and [SUNY New Paltz] took advantage of it. They did a nice job of attacking openings and taking advantage of our poor execution. Credit goes to them."
 
After scoring just 27 points in three quarters, Oswego State netted 21 in the fourth and got within eight with 38 seconds left.
 
However, with time running out the Lakers intentionally fouled to stop to clock and Marion Dietz iced the win for the Hawks making all four attempts in the time remaining.
 
"It seems like we have a tough time with the end of the third, beginning of the fourth [quarter]," Seward said. "For whatever reason, more times than not that has been a rough time for us… Not sure why that is, but it's just a matter of continuing to have a high level effort and a high level of focus, and that is what we haven't been able to figure out yet."
 
Dietz (12 points) and Lindsay Bettke (10) led SUNY New Paltz offensively. Dietz also totaled four rebounds, two assists and a steal on the day, while Bettke added two rebounds, three assists and two steals. Rachel Simon and Madison Van Pelt each chipped in with nine points apiece, with Van Pelt finished a perfect 4-for-4 from the field.
 
"First half we didn't shoot the ball well, but we played really hard defense," Bettke said. "In the second half we came out, made some subs and just fouled when we didn't have to foul. We put them in the bonus, which allowed them to score a lot of foul shots and that brought them back in the game."
 
As a team, the Hawks out-shot the Lakers (33.3 percent – 31.6 percent) and won the turnover battle (18-9), but sent Oswego State to the line 16 times, where they hit 62.5 percent.
 
Meanwhile, the Lakers, carried by Zana Dillard's 20 boards, were the better team on the glass and out-rebounded SUNY New Paltz, 47-39, in the game. The Hawks know that ratio needs to improve heading into its next outing Saturday against first-place SUNY Cortland.
 
"We need to improve on rebounding for sure… We have to do a better job of getting on the offensive and defensive glass for sure for tomorrow," Bettke said. "It wasn't the prettiest win at all. We were all a little disappointed with the way we ended that game, but putting a W on our record was important."
 
The Hawks are scheduled to take on the Red Dragons  (5-4 overall, 4-0 SUNYAC) at home Saturday for a 1 p.m. tip-off in the Hawk Center. For live updates, recaps, photos, video and more, be sure to follow @nphawks on Twitter and @newpaltzhawks on Instagram and Facebook.