For the past three seasons, the State University of New York at New Paltz has seen The College at Brockport and SUNY Geneseo in the postseason. The Hawks have gotten the best out of the Golden Eagles all three times and earned a win over the Knights in three of the last four postseason contests – with all of those victories coming in conference championship games. The next chapter of the rivalry begins this weekend when SUNY New Paltz travels to western New York to take on both teams.
 
The upperclassmen made sure to talk about the rivalry among the programs with the eight new freshmen on the roster, especially playing in the opposing gym against a Knights team they have seen in the last four of their State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Tournament appearances.
 
"I don't know to what degree, but I do know yesterday as I walked into the meeting room [senior forward] Paige [Niemeyer] was kind of talking about that," said Hawks coach Jamie Seward. "About this is going to be different than what you have seen at this point and it is going to be a lot more fun than anything you have done at this point. I don't know what level of detail she went in to, but it was definitely being discussed when I walked in yesterday."
 
SUNY New Paltz has mostly rolled through conference play, earning 30-plus point victories in three of four contests. It escaped with a tight three-point victory against SUNY Oneonta Saturday, but rebounded with a commanding performance against the Lakers, earning an 82-36 win. The Hawks will need to build off that victory heading into two tough matchups against a pair of SUNYAC rivals, which includes a Knights team that is also undefeated in the SUNYAC and is ranked No. 24 in the latest Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) poll.  
 
 
Geneseo graduated All-Region forward and three-time SUNYAC selection in forward McKenna Brooks, but bring back the bulk of their roster, which includes All-SUNYAC guards Lindsay Halpin and Natalie Alfieri for their junior seasons. The two have started all 12 games and have combined for about 22 points per game, both shooting around 40 percent from the field and above 35 percent from the perimeter.
 
Junior forward Kerrin Montogmery has led the team offensively, however, averaging 14 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. Senior guard Sara Ciotti follows with about 11 points, five rebounds and four assists a contest.
 
The Knights have won six straight since suffering its only loss of the year against SUNY Cortland Dec. 6. Like the Hawks, most of their conference games haven't been close. They combined to defeat Plattsburgh State, SUNY Potsdam, Oswego State and Fredonia State to a score of 302-215. They have put up about 70 points per game as a team, shooting around 44 and 32 percent from the floor and the arc, respectively. Defensively, they have allowed 53.8 points per game -- second best in the SUNYAC -- with their opposition shooting roughly 32 percent, and also like SUNY New Paltz, is one of the league leaders in caused turnovers, averaging about 20 per game.
 
"Their three starting guards… are as good as it gets conference wide or country wide," Seward said. "They all can penetrate, they all can finish around the basket, they all can create and they all can shoot the 3. They are challenging. We have had trouble at times guarding some quicker guards and they have a couple of them. Alfieri has been playing really well and shooting the ball well. She is so physical getting to the basket and drawing some fouls. So yeah, they present a lot of problems. They're physical, their bigs are big and physical on the glass and in the paint. Playing there is always challenging, so we will have to play well and we will have to have another number of people play well."  
Brockport also lost its best player from last year's squad in Second-Team All-SUNYAC selection Emily Nestler. However, the Golden Eagles return a veteran group including junior guard Julianna Taylor, senior guard Bailey Pratt and sophomore forward Kylee Rosbrook. Taylor and Rosbrook, along with junior guard Zaria McCullough are the only players to start all 12 games. Taylor leads the team with 13.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and about two assists per game. Rosbrook follows with 10.8 points and a team-high 6.5 rebound a contest.
 
Brockport (5-7, 2-3) swept its most recent SUNYAC weekend, going on the road to earn victories over SUNY Potsdam and Plattsburgh State to bounce back from a pair of losses at home against Oswego and Cortland earlier in the year. However, the Golden Eagles dropped their most recent outing Tuesday at home against Buffalo State, 68-54.  
 
The last time Brockport faced the Hawks was in the Hawk Center in the SUNYAC semifinals. They played the No. 1 seed tough, nearly pulling an upset over SUNY New Paltz. However, the Hawks overcame a resilient performance from the fifth-seeded Golden Eagles to claim a three-point victory, which ultimately led to another conference title.
 
"Brockport has really played us tougher than anyone in the league last year over the course of all three games," Seward said. "Every game got a little bit tighter and the last one came right down to the last possession, almost literally. They bring back everybody except their big kid who was certainly an excellent player, but they have some experience now who played. Pretty much [head coach] Corinne [Jones]' first recruiting class is now juniors and seniors and they have that experience. They've played a lot in their first couple years and know what to expect. They are a team that plays us really tough and presents a lot of problems. It is going to be tough weekend, hopefully we can go there and play well and not at least get out of there being swept because that is a very real possibility."
 
After overcoming a rough performance Saturday against the Red Dragons, SUNY New Paltz responded with a solid win that saw production from a variety of players, especially off the bench. Freshmen Lexi Van Vorst, Maddie Gillis and Cassidy Deaver all saw 20-plus minutes to help sustain and close out the win against the Lakers. The three combined for 33 points, shooting 10-for-17 from the field with eight assists and five steals. Junior Nicole Ziogas also had productive minutes in limited time, totaling four points, three steals and three rebounds in just eight minutes of action Tuesday.
 
"The rest of the young players are really improving. There's none that look like they are about to or have hit a wall," Seward said. "Maddie Gillis is such a talented player, and I think she maybe hit a little bit of a plateau. Maybe hit that wall because she had done so much for us early, but she showed signs of the last four, five days of really getting past that and getting back to the player we thought she was going to be this time of year. We really thought she would be one of the best players in the league by the end of January and it's not quite the end of January yet, so maybe she is still on track for that.  
"It was really good to see Nicole play much more around her toes, much more aggressively, much more alertly on Tuesday. She had practiced that way the day before and she had practiced that way yesterday, so hopefully she can get back to playing at the level that we know she is capable of. She has had a rough first half of the year, but we expected so much of her coming into the year and I don't think the ability has changed or the potential has changed, so hopefully she is able to get to where we think she can be moving forward. That gives us a lot of different people who can do a lot of different things, and allows us to play in a lot of different ways, and I think ultimately that is going to be our greatest strength."
 
The Hawks will need the same type of production going into the weekend, along with the consistency of their four leading seniors, Marion Dietz, Maddie Van Pelt, Paige Niemeyer and Philesha Teape.
 
"We'll need our best players to play well. I think Marion had a couple of bad games in Tennessee, but other than that Marion is as steady as it gets," Seward said. "Maddie Van Pelt has played the best basketball of her career… Much more aggressive, doing so many more things offensively and I think Paige and Phil, they have done such a great job over the course of the few months of just taking on the burden of taking on a team that is so young. All the things that come along with that. I think it's worn on them a little bit and they are a little mentally fatigued at this point, but I believe as they see the light at the end of the tunnel getting brighter by the day that that fatigue will eventually wear off and they will get their second wind. I think they are going to finish strong. They were so good to start the season and it is not like it is a projection, we think they can play this well. We just need to get them playing back at that level and I am confident that that is going to happen. I don't know if it will be this weekend, but I really feel like they are going to finish their season strong and their career strong, and we're going to need it."
 
The Hawks are set to face the Knights Friday at 5:30 p.m. and will then take on the Golden Eagles Saturday at 2 p.m.

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