It was a tumultuous start to the season for the State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team, but as of late the two-time defending SUNYAC champions have seemingly hit its stride winning back-to-back games on the road, including against holiday tournament host Westfield State University Dec. 31 – a team that scored 100-plus points against the Hawks in their first meeting.

Riding a two-game winning streak in a pivotal conference home weekend, SUNY New Paltz (5-5 overall, 1-3 SUNYAC) is hoping to continue its hot streak at home against SUNY Cortland (5-4 overall, 4-0 SUNYAC) and Oswego State (4-7 overall, 1-3 SUNYAC).

"Truthfully, I think we just have to run with [the momentum]," said Hawks sophomore forward Madison Van Pelt. "We had a three-[game] losing streak heading into last weekend and we knew we had to change our game and start winning. I think we just have to take these two wins and run with it. I know we're versing two hard teams coming into this weekend, so we each have to keep this up and go into practice and work on it."

SUNY New Paltz has another opportunity to avenge an early season loss with its match up against the Red Dragons Saturday. When the Hawks traveled to SUNY Cortland, they shot just 25.5 percent from the field, while giving up nearly 47 percent from the floor to the Red Dragons, who also shot 50 percent (9-of-18) from the arc in the, 74-56 win.

However, its defense has improved since that loss for the SUNY New Paltz. The Hawks have given up an average of just 61 points in their last three games, 34.5 percent shooting from the field and 21.8 percent from 3, including just 15 percent from 3-point range in their last two games on 47 attempts. Not to mention in their last outing holding the Owls, who went into the game totaling about 87 points per game, to a season-low 66 points.

"We had a tough first couple weeks, but I think that our mentality and togetherness really pushed us through this past weekend," said Hawks junior guard Rachel Simon. "When you see that hard work is actually working in your favor and you finally win a game or two it definitely boosts that confidence. So yeah, we're definitely headed in the right direction."

After starting the season 0-4, SUNY Cortland has won five-straight, including a perfect 4-0 in conference play, which sets it atop of the SUNYAC leader board heading into the weekend.

Kerry McHugh, Shana Crespo and Kristy Vitucci lead the Red Dragons offensively, averaging about 16, 11 and 10 points per game, respectively. As a team, SUNY Cortland average about 68 points a contest, and yield around 64 an outing.

"That loss to Cortland stung," Simon said. "It definitely hurt, and we're looking for redemption. It's on our home court; it's our house, so we're going to do everything to protect it here."

But before SUNY New Paltz can have another chance at the Red Dragons, it must face the visiting Lakers, who split both meetings with the Hawks last season.

Entering the weekend, Oswego State is 2-3 in its last five games, but is coming off a comfortable, 91-80 victory over Cazenovia College in its previous outing, which was more than three weeks ago.

Like SUNY New Paltz, the Lakers boast a 1-3 conference record thus far, with their only SUNYAC win coming against Buffalo State, in a 65-58 win on the road.

"We split against Oswego last year and they are a very aggressive team, which just means we need to go in knowing that we need to beat them," said Van Pelt, "And really bring in what we're working on in practice and utilize it in the game."

Courtney Ameele and Rachael Windhausen lead Oswego State offensively this season, averaging 16.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 10.2 points, 8.2 rebounds per game, respectively. As a team, the Lakers net about 52 points per game, and give up an average of 58 points.

However, both games are crucial for the Hawks, who are slowly trying to climb back into the SUNYAC playoff race with two much-needed home wins Friday and Saturday.

"We love playing at home, and we love playing on the road, but having that home court is just gives you that real sense of pride," Simon said. "This is huge, because that rough start really did hurt us but that mentality of desperation to keep going and to keep winning is working in our favor and I think it is going to do great things for us this season."

SUNY New Paltz is scheduled to take on Oswego State Friday at 5:30 p.m. and then host SUNY Cortland Saturday at 1 p.m.  For live updates, recaps, photos, video and more, be sure to follow @nphawks on Twitter and @newpaltzhawks on Instagram and Facebook.