Box Score New Paltz, NY — Amid four lead changes, six ties and a double-digit leads fading away on both sides, the State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team never lost belief it would walk out of the Hawk Center Saturday without a conference championship.
 
Rachel Simon and Lindsay Bettke were the catalysts, but it took a full team effort for the Hawks (23-4 overall, 17-1 SUNYAC) to de-throne a very talented and tough SUNY Geneseo (23-4 overall, 15-3 SUNYAC) squad and ultimately their belief became reality, as SUNY New Paltz closed out an exciting, 63-57 overtime victory to earn the programs fourth State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) title.
 
"I kept hearing, and I may have not believed it as much as I should have, but I just kept hearing Phil [Teape] say, 'we're winning this game,'" said Hawks coach Jamie Seward. "I just kept hearing her say that after every timeout. Every time something negative happened, she just stayed on that. We're going to get this done and it was a real positivity and true belief that she was voicing, but you know it was believed by every single one of them. It's pretty remarkable." 
 
The Knights forced SUNY New Paltz into nine turnovers in the game and held them to one of its lowest shooting performances of the season at 34 percent from the field. But, Simon and Bettke showed why they are the best duo in the league, as they made difficult shots in the most crucial spots throughout the game to aid in the win.
 
"I challenged them to be on their top defensive game and I thought we were," said Knights coach Alyssa Polosky. "They just hit some shots. You're never going to hold a team to zero points. You just have to pick and choose how they score and who scores, and unfortunately they just hit those shots that we wanted them to take, and good for them."
 
Simon opened up the SUNYAC Championship game with a bang, knocking down a turn-around fade-away jumper with two SUNY Geneseo players on her as the shot clock expired for the opening points of the day. Her basket was just a taste of what was to come in the thrilling back-and-forth match up.
 
McKenna Brooks gave the Knights their first lead 2 minutes, 42 seconds left in the first quarter, grabbing an offensive board off a missed free throw to earn herself a trip to the foul line. She knocked down 1-of-2 to push her team ahead, 11-9.
 
SUNY New Paltz quickly regained the lead to end the first quarter, which pushed momentum toward the Hawks entering the second period. They limited the Knights to just two points on 1-for-11 shooting from the field in the period, while causing eight turnovers in the stretch to propel at 24-15 halftime lead.
 
The Hawks soon extended their cushion to double-figures. They took their largest lead of the game with 9:33 to play in the third quarter following a 3-pointer by Marion Dietz to open up the period.
However, SUNY New Paltz slowly saw its advantage dwindle down. SUNY Geneseo ended the period on a 10-0 lead, getting baskets from a myriad of players before McKenna Brooks capped off the surge with a bucket on a driving layup as time winded down on the quarter to put her team up, 36-33 heading into the final 10 minutes.
 
"We came out of the locker room down by nine points and we couldn't hold our heads or dwell on what had already happened," Brooks said. "We knew we just had to give it our best and give it our all. For some of us it could be our last game, so I think that kicked in and we kind of realized we had no other choice. Our backs were against the wall, so I think everyone had that mentality and we worked really well together on the floor and started to come back."
 
The Knights rode their momentum into the opening minutes of the fourth and started gaining traction on their largest lead of the game. The Hawks missed four straight shots, while SUNY Geneseo took advantage on the other end to eventually earn a 13-point advantage with just more than six minutes remaining in regulation.
 
Madison Van Pelt turned the tide for SUNY New Paltz, as the junior forward made hustle plays that resulted into baskets, which ignited the home bench and crowd to instill life into the Hawks.
 
"We started to panic a little bit when they started to make a run and get up by that many points, but I just remember if the ball went out of bounds or something happened, we always just huddled in and we got ourselves back on track," Bettke said. "We looked each other in the eyes and locked in. 'We're going to make a play. This play right here we're going to make a stop.'… We didn't let past mistakes get to us, which was really key for us pushing through."
 
Van Pelt made back-to-back baskets to trim the deficit down to nine with about four minutes left, before Simon knocked down a shot from the perimeter to trim the lead down to six. Kelsey Poplawski answered for the Knights, but Paige Niemeyer added two more for SUNY New Paltz after a great find by Van Pelt.
 
After a defensive stop by the Hawks, Simon connected on four-straight points before Natalie Alfieri broke up the mini-run for the Knights to keep her team ahead by four. But, like she had all game, Simon came back down the floor and buried another 3-pointer in the corner with a hand in her face to cut the score, 51-50 with 30 seconds to go.
 
With time ticking down, the Hawks started to intentionally foul to slow down the clock. The Knights' Lindsay Halpin was sent to the free throw line with 17.5 seconds left and the sophomore made 1-of-2 to push the score, 52-50.
 
Following a SUNY New Paltz timeout, the Hawks worked their way down the floor and into the shot clock. Brooks was called on a loose ball foul underneath the basket, which not only put the Knights in the penalty, but also gave the senior forward her fifth and final foul of the game.
 
Simon stepped up to the free throw line and coolly swished both attempts to tie the game at 52 with seven seconds remaining. SUNY Geneseo had one last look to win at the buzzer, but Halpin's attempt rung around the hoop and out of play to send the game into overtime.
 
After overcoming a 13-point deficit in the matter of six minutes, SUNY New Paltz held all the momentum in extra time. Bettke was the closer, scoring eight of her team's 11 points in the period. However, it was Simon who officially iced the win, as she again was clutch at the charity stripe, making both attempts in the final seconds to help the Hawks claim the victory.
 
"To be honest with you I felt like that the whole game even in that deficit," said Simon of having the feeling SUNY New Paltz was going to pull out the win. "There wasn't a single doubt in my mind, especially because of Phil feeding that into my brain, telling me we're not going home. We're winning this game and us three [Lindsay Bettke and Taylor Howell] being seniors, they were in. This is it. So, it really never struck me at any time that this game was going to end the way we didn't want it to."
 
It was the first SUNYAC Championship for Simon who finished with a game-high 22 points on 7-for-17 shooting from the field, while adding three rebounds and an assist. For Bettke (17 points, three rebounds, three assists) and Taylor Howell (3 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals), however, the two four-year seniors added their third SUNYAC Championships to their decorated resumes. "I knew this was going to be a special year," Howell said. "We have the right people. We have the right mindset and I knew that it was going to be something special. I didn't care who we were going up against. Whether we get redemption for our rivalry or whether it's a completely new face. I knew this team was going to go far and hit the goals that we planned on hitting… in the beginning of the season it is more like you can just say it, but you know it's going to happen. When it is actually happening, it is completely different feeling. It's great. I am very happy."
 
Following Bettke and Simon offensively was Dietz (7points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists) and Niemeyer, who finished with five points and seven boards for the Hawks. 
 
Poplawski led the Knights with 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting in 36 minutes, followed by Brooks who added 15 points and 12 rebounds in 24 minutes. SUNY New Paltz held SUNY Geneseo to just 37 percent shooting from the field with 17 turnovers.

Brooks, Poplawski, Simon, The College at Brockport's Emily Nestler and Julianna Taylor were all named to the SUNYAC All-Tournament team, while Bettke was named Tournament MVP. 
 
"It was a really good game. It wasn't a really pretty game. Both teams missed a lot of shots they usually make," Seward said. "They were 2-for-20 from 3 and we missed a ton of shots around the basketball, but you can just feel the intensity that there was a lot on the line. Obviously it's a championship game, but you could certainly feel that. They are clearly an NCAA Tournament team. I certainly hope they get an at-large bid. They deserve it. If that's not an NCAA Tournament team than I don't know who is."
 
The championship victory guarantees the Hawks a spot in the NCAA Tournament, which begins March 1 with the tournament bracket announced Monday. To stay up to date with everything #NPHawks be sure to follow us on Twitter at @nphawks,Instagram and Facebook at @newpaltzhawks, and subscribe to our Youtube channel, New Paltz Hawks.