Last season's holiday tournament brought the State University of New York at New Paltz one of its worst losses of the regular season. However, the disappointing performance turned into a momentum-shifting game that resulted in the turning point of the Hawks season, which ended in a historic run to a conference championship and NCAA Sweet 16 berth.
 
SUNY New Paltz, after losing to Cabrini University in the Moravian College Greyhound Classic Tournament last December, went on to win 21-straight games in dominating fashion en route to claiming the program's fourth State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Championship and making its second appearance in the Sweet 16 in three years. Although the Hawks don't want another down performance, they hope their upcoming holiday tournament and final games of 2019 at the Music City Classic can once again carry them into a banner campaign.
  "It was definitely a turning point for our team, because coach got into us really bad after that and it was kind of an eye-opener," said SUNY New Paltz senior forward Paige Niemeyer. "…That was the momentum for last year, and so being able to bring these freshmen in and put them against teams in a different league is super important because this is the momentum going into intercession. How we play now is a test of how good we can be."








After three weeks since its last game Dec. 7, the Hawks will get back on the floor to face Simpson College (IA) and Rose-Hulman College (IN) Dec. 29 and 30, respectively, on the campus of Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, TN. Both teams won 20 games a season ago and made their respective conference playoffs. SUNY New Paltz is looking forward to both matchups to once again see where it stands among the best in the country. First, the Hawks had two days of practice Friday and Saturday to get the rust off to prepare for the Storm and Fightin' Engineers.
 
"Coming back it was kind of nice to get these two practices, because as you saw in practice [Friday] we are a little slow, we're missing some layups, we're missing some passes and turning it over," Niemeyer said. "So coming in, being able to practice twice before doing those back-to-back games is important, and then just building ourselves back up for intercession is just really important."
 
SUNY New Paltz (5-1 overall, 2-0 SUNYAC) will first take on 7-3 Simpson College Sunday, which has won its last three contests with the most recent coming Dec. 21 against tournament hosts Milikin College.
 
The Strom have a slight advantage over the Hawks in terms of game play, as they competed in five outings throughout December already, including their holiday tournament last weekend. They've gone 3-2 in the past month with their only losses coming against American River Conference rivals, Coe and Loras, and an early season loss to Wisconsin-La Crosse Nov. 16.  
Simpson is carried by its electric offense, which averages 83 points per game on 50.3 percent shooting from the field, including 43.3 percent from behind the arc. The Storm have already scored more than 100 points in a single game and has exceeded 90 points three times.
 
Senior forward Cassie Chub leads the team with 15 points and six rebounds per game, while shooting around 39 percent. Sophomore guard Kia Rasmussen and junior forward Cameron Kin follow with 12.3 and 12 points per game, respectively. Both are lethal from the floor, shooting well above 55 percent with Rasmussen also hitting nearly 53 percent from 3-point range.
 
As a team, the Storm have given up about 67 points a game, while allowing the opposition to shoot around 40 percent from the field, including 30 percent from 3-point range. They turn the ball over about 18 times a game, but have caused numerous turnovers as well, forcing their opposition into nearly 22 a contest.  
 
Rose-Hulman meanwhile, enters the tournament at 1-7 overall, including 0-3 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference. Despite the Fightin' Engineers lackluster record, they've played through a tough schedule, losing two of their games to a pair of top-25 programs in No. 23 Chicago University and No. 21 Illinois-Wesleyan. They will face Washington and Lee Sunday before facing the Hawks Monday.
 
Rose-Hulman has struggled offensively in its first eight games, averaging just 46.6 points per game on 34.3 percent from the field, including a disparaging 17.9 percent from the perimeter. Defensively, the Fightin' Engineers give up about 63 points on 38 percent shooting, while causing an average of 14 turnovers per game.
 
Senior guard Hannah Woody is the only player averaging double figures, putting up a team-best 11.3 points per game to go along with 3.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists a contest. Freshman forward Nosa Igiehon follows with nine points, while pulling down a team-high eight rebounds per game.
 
"Competing in a tournament like this and seeing different teams out of our league with different competition is super nice for us, especially as a young team," Niemeyer added. "Because the way they play is different than the way the teams in the league play in New York, so seeing that before getting to the NCAA's, and being able to experience it, especially for the freshmen on our team is really important, because maybe we'll see them again or their style of play we'll see a lot in the NCAA Tournament."
 
The Hawks are coming off one of their most impressive weekends of their young season, handily taking care of SUNYAC rivals, SUNY Potsdam and Plattsburgh State after winning both games by 30-plus points, giving up an average of 41 points on less than 24 percent shooting.
 
The reigning SUNYAC Champions had a myriad of players step up in those games, including a breakout performance by freshman Olivia Badura, who put up back-to-back career-high's against the Bears (10 points) and Cardinals (14 points), respectively. Senior Maddie Van Pelt followed, combining for 30 points and nine rebounds in the two victories.
 
Senior Marion Dietz has led the team offensively through their first six games, averaging  a team-best 19 points per game. With her hot start, Dietz puts herself in prime position to eclipse 1,000 career points over the weekend, as she enters the tournament just 26 points shy of reaching the mark. She will become just the sixth Hawk to reach that threshold, following program-leader Kit Small ('16) who has the record 1,344 career points, followed by 2019 alumna Lindsay Bettke with 1,234.
 
SUNY New Paltz is set to tip-off against Simpson College Sunday at 12 p.m. eastern standard time and then will conclude the tournament against Rose-Hulman Monday at 6 p.m. (EST).
 
To follow along with live stats for both games, click here.

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