The State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team heads into its final road conference weekend of the regular season Friday and Saturday against The College at Brockport and SUNY Geneseo.
 
The Hawks (14-4 overall, 10-1 SUNYAC) currently sit atop the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) standings and have the opportunity to tighten its grasp on the top seed with a pair of wins over the Golden Eagles (8-10, 6-5) and Knights (17-1, 10-1), with the latter sitting a game behind SUNY New Paltz.
 
"Our main goal this weekend is to be focused and aggressive the whole, entire time," said Hawks senior guard Taylor Howell. "We know that every single game counts. It's not just this weekend. It is all of our games. We have to be on top of it at this point. We know where we want to go and we know at this point of the season we have to be focused every single game, and if we're attacking them I feel like we're going to be in a good spot."
 
SUNY New Paltz, which is riding a 10-game winning streak, defeated both teams in the Hawk Center earlier in the year. In its first matchup with Brockport, the Hawks had one of their best defensive performances of the season. They allowed just 47 points — two shy of a season-best — while limiting the Golden Eagles to just 34 percent shooting from the field and caused 22 turnovers, capitalizing off those miscues with 23 points.
 
They had an even more impressive performance the following day against Geneseo, defeating the defending SUNYAC champions for the first time in more than a year. The game was close through three quarters, but SUNY New Paltz took over in the final 10 minutes to solidify a 10-point win.
 
"I think what makes Geneseo such a tough matchup is that they've won so many games. They have experience in the conference of winning, so they know what it is like to be in deep game situations," said Howell. "But the thing is that we have experience as well, so I feel like it is an even match up. I feel like we are way more mature this year and that us attacking them is going to be a big difference than it was last year."
 
During SUNY New Paltz's 10-game winning streak, it has held the opposition to just 56 points per game, while offensively have averaged 73.8 points a contest.
  "I think in order for us to have a great performance this weekend we have to continue to attack the basket," Howell said. "I feel like we have a lot of threats inside and also outside on the 3-point line, so if we're aggressive in attacking, we're going to have opportunities to score anywhere on the court. On our defensive end, we need to make sure that we're active, we're talking the whole, entire time and just staying focused and together."
 
The Golden Eagles have won their last two games, defeating Fredonia State (61-51) and SUNY Potsdam (72-66). Emily Nestor is the only player averaging in double-figures for Brockport, as she leads the team in points (14.4 per game) and rebounds (8.8 per game).
 
The only loss the Knights have suffered all season came against the Hawks. They too head into the matchup on a winning streak, coming out on top in their last five games, while earning wins over Rochester Institute of Technology (65-52), Fredonia State (69-59), SUNY Potsdam (72-48), Plattsburgh State (74-65) and Buffalo State (84-66). 
 
Mckenna Brooks leads Geneseo with 12.2 points in about 25 minutes per game, followed by Natalie Alfieri with 9.6 points per game. The Hawks limited the duo to a combined 26 points and seven turnovers in the first matchup on the season.
 
Meanwhile for the Hawks, Rachel Simon, Lindsay Bettke and Marion Dietz lead the team offensively with 18.9, 16.2 and 10.1 points per game, respectively.
 
SUNY New Paltz is set to tip-off against the Golden Eagles Friday at 5:30 p.m. and then the Knights Saturday at 2 p.m.

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