Box Score New Paltz, NY — The game plan heading into Saturday's matchup for the State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team was to speed up play and force visiting Fredonia State into turnovers. The Hawks (18-4 overall, 4-1 SUNYAC) executed their scout to perfection, as they aided in 26 Blue Devils (11-13, 8-9) turnovers, which turned into 28 points for the hosts to help propel a lopsided, 81-53, win in the Hawk Center.
 
"We match up well with these guys in the sense where we can speed them up and make them play uncomfortable," said SUNY New Paltz coach Jamie Seward. "I think we were able to do that and force them into some turnovers. Even when we maybe didn't force turnovers we kind of got them playing out of control, out of their element a little bit and that was the game plan, and they did a nice job of executing it overall."

It was a close first quarter between the Hawks and Blue Devils with SUNY New Paltz holding a slight one-point edge midway through the opening period. Philesha Teape and Nicole Ziogas were subbed in early on and provided a spark, especially in the paint.
 
Shortly after, the Hawks' offense started to get going with Rachel Simon and Lindsay Bettke helping start a 10-2 run to end the quarter.
 
Bettke buried a 3 to put SUNY New Paltz ahead, 11-8. Simon then followed up with another 3-pointer, with Bettke piling on with an and-one on the next possession. Madison Van Pelt then added two more to extend the lead to 10 with a beautiful finish on a turn-around jumper off the glass.
 
SUNY New Paltz ended the period strong, getting a trap in the corner on the defensive end, which led to an easy steal for Van Pelt who finished with two points in the open floor to push the score to 24-14 at the end of the first quarter.
 
"Our game plan going into today was really attacking them," said Hawks senior guard Taylor Howell. "They're bigger than us, so we had to let speed play a factor. I feel like we did execute that well. We did attack the basket, we pushed in transition and our press was very good, so I think we executed our plan well."
 
SUNY New Paltz extended its lead to 20 at the end of the second quarter, as Simon knocked down back-to-back 3's to end the half. An offensive rebound by Van Pelt led to another offensive possession for the Hawks, which Simon took advantage of with a basket from the perimeter. After a defensive stop on the ensuing play, Simon drained another trey, this time from the corner, as time winded down before the break.
 
SUNY New Paltz forced 17 Blue Devils turnovers in the first half alone, scoring nearly half its points off those miscues within the first 20 minutes and the Hawks reiterated the defensive sentiment at the break.
 
"At halftime we talked about not relying on our spurts of scoring and more relying on our defense to fuel that," Howell said. "So I feel like our steals that turned into points, I feel like we did a good job at that and we wanted to just continue attacking them defensively and that will fuel our offense."
 
The Hawks' bench took over in the second half, as Howell, Kei-Kei Glover, Teape, Ziogas and Brianna Alberga all saw extended minutes with each contributing on both ends of the floor.
 
"Going into the fourth quarter we spoke about not letting their players do what they want. I think we let them get off a few 3's toward the end of the third quarter and that is unacceptable," Howell said. "We know our scout, we just have to execute it. So going into the fourth there was a lot of emphasis of making sure that we're out guarding the other people on the other team and knowing their scout, and taking away what they're comfortable with and making them do something different."
 
Howell finished with 12 points on 4-for-8 from the field and three steals. Glover added 10 points, as she stayed aggressive attacking the hoop, hitting all three of her shots in the paint and getting to the line to make all four attempts. Ziogas finished with six points and two assists, while Teape chipped in with six points and eight rebounds — five of which were on the offensive glass. Alberga in 10 minutes collected three rebounds and totaled four points to help the Hawks finish out a solid win and clinch their 14th-straight victory.
 
"We had some games where we had leads late and didn't finish as strong, kind of played to the scoreboard and I thought that we finished a big lead maybe better than we have in some other games, so that was good to see," Seward said. "There is going to be close games where we will need those guys to be able to contribute and play the way we know they're capable of. It was good to see, now a couple games in a row, where the bench played well. Hopefully, that will give them more confidence moving forward to the stretch run here."

Bettke and Simon led all scorers with 19 and 17 points, respectively, combining to shoot 42 percent from the floor. Bettke also totaled three rebounds, two assists and two steals, while Simon added seven rebounds. 
 
SUNY New Paltz has a short break before its next outing, as the Hawks travel to take on SUNY Cortland Tuesday for their final road game of the regular season. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

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