New Paltz, NY – The State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball is headed back to the conference championship.

The top-seeded Hawks opened up with a large first quarter cushion, which was extended with a prolific third quarter against No. 4 seeded Buffalo State Friday in the Hawk Center. Ultimately, the defending champions came away with a 78-49 victory to play for a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Championship on their home floor for the second-straight year.

SUNY New Paltz (23-3 overall, 17-1 SUNYAC) kept the Bengals' leading scorer Liv LeBaron to just nine points on the night, well below her league-leading average of 22.2 points per game. Hawks senior Marion Dietz again had a stout performance defensively on the senior, but with Dietz battling early foul trouble freshman Cassidy Deaver stepped up to defend LeBaron and helped keep her scoreless in the first half, which aided in SUNY New Paltz's 14-point halftime lead.

"Marion got into some foul trouble and did a really nice job on her and has done a really nice job on [LeBaron] basically for the entirety of their careers playing against each other," said Hawks coach Jamie Seward. "Then she got into foul trouble and I thought Cassidy did a really nice job on her as well and held her to one shot in the first half. She got a couple late, but we did a really nice job. She is a good player and a good scorer. I think we really limited her scoring opportunities."
 

The Bengals (16-11, 11-7) were limited to just five points on two made baskets in the first half with SUNY New Paltz forcing 10 turnovers in the first quarter of the game. In turn, the Hawks got out in transition and capitalized on the fast break to earn an 18-5 lead after the opening 10 minutes.

"They pack the paint and our game is outside and inside, and they did force us to make shots from the outside a little bit more," said Buffalo State junior guard Katie Villarini. "They did have some offensive calls against us and it just made us change our game a little bit, but for the most part I think we did pretty well."

Maddie Gillis got the second quarter started with an and-1 on a floater in the lane and SUNY New Paltz continued to roll, playing tight defense on the other end of the floor. From its fifth point scored with more than eight minutes left in the first quarter, the Bengals were held scoreless until about the six-minute mark of the second period, as a runner by Kaelee Lynch broke Buffalo State's scoring drought. The Hawks flexed their lead in the stretch, getting points from Gillis, Philesha Teape and Paige Niemeyer to boost the advantage to 27-7 with about five minutes to go in the half.

Buffalo State cut the deficit to 14 going into halftime, as Villarini connected on a jumper with about a minute left, while Tori Hackett got into the paint in the final seconds to trim the score to 27-13 entering the third.

Marion Dietz drilled a 3-pointer in the opening seconds of the second half, but Villarini responded with a trey for the Bengals to keep the difference to 14. Cassidy Deaver helped extend the cushion for the Hawks, hitting from the perimeter in the corner. Van Pelt then added on, finishing in transition after a turnover by Buffalo State, which forced the visitors into a timeout.

SUNY New Paltz kept the pace even after the 30 second break, running the floor with Dietz as the beneficiary on an assist from Van Pelt that pushed the difference to 19. Van Pelt took advantage inside, attacking the paint and earning another trip to the foul line on the ensuing possession to give her team its first 20-point lead of the half after sinking both attempts from the charity stripe.
"This week in practice we practiced a lot of 2-2-1 press and we really just focused on breaking the press and being aggressive on the back side of it, and I think we did a pretty good job of doing that tonight," added Dietz.

Villarini kept the Bengals in the quarter, connecting on another attempt from 3-point range and following up with a trip to the foul line midway through the third to get the difference back down to 19 after the Hawks extended to 23 two plays earlier after a 3-pointer by Olivia Badura and a fast-break bucket by Dietz. Villarini helped her team trim the margin to as close as 16 after knocking down another shot from distance, but Buffalo State didn't have an answer for the Hawks, who began to heat up from behind the arc. Deaver drained another 3 to answer Villarini with about four minutes to go and after a turnover by Buffalo State, Dietz swished another from 3 to bring the cushion to 20-plus once again.

Van Pelt made sure to keep SUNY New Paltz's large lead entering the fourth, as she single-handily led a 9-3 run to end the period. She worked her way to the basket, finishing strong at the hoop to get her shot to go and take the foul to earn a traditional three-point play with about two minutes left. The Bengals responded with a 3, but Van Pelt again worked her way inside and finished tough, hitting on the bucket as she got knocked to the floor for another foul. After completing another and-1 opportunity, she came through once more, this time at the buzzer. Lexi Van Vorst pulled down the defensive rebound following a missed 3-pointer by LeBaron as time ticked down and pushed the ball down the floor. Deaver found Van Pelt out in the corner who just got her shot off before the game clock wound to zero, and swished what felt like the final dagger from the perimeter to put her team ahead, 59-35 with 10 minutes remaining in the game.

"I think that just fueled us to keep going," said Van Pelt. "Like coach says, you want to put a stamp on every play you do and I think we just kind of ended the third quarter doing that and bringing us home in the fourth quarter."

SUNY New Paltz stretched its lead to 26 early in the fourth after a made basket by Gillis with Deaver picking up the assist on the play, and the Hawks bench took over in the latter half of the period to sustain the 20-plus point margin. Graci Serravillo came in and was active inside, coming up with a pair of rebounds, while earning three trips to the line and connecting on 4-of-6 attempts. Samaiah Williams was subbed in and produced, getting to the foul line following a steal by Victoria Venus, while Gabby Palladino put the finishing touches on the win with a 3 on an assist from Venus to give SUNY New Paltz its largest lead of 29 points late in the game to close out the, 78-49 victory.
"I'd say that they made a few plays that really put them ahead," LeBaron said. "There was a few breakaways on our press that they just chucked the ball to the other side of the court and it was a two on one situation, which is hard to guard. We made the switch and fixed it, but it didn't happen soon enough, which happens in basketball you're going to do that. I will say they are very good at executing when they do it right and when they do do things right, they execute every time. If you aren't in the spot right there or if you don't beat them to the spot, then yeah, they are going to do it. I thought we fought really hard to keep the lead as close as possible. We did the best we could."

Van Pelt paced the Hawks offensively with a team-high 18 points, while shooting 6-for-14 from the field and 5-for-5 from the foul line, adding six rebounds and three assists in 22 minutes. Dietz, who was named as this year's Elite 20 recipient prior to the game for her outstanding academic excellence, followed with 14 points (5-9), three rebounds and two assists in 20 minutes. Deaver and Philesha Teape each chipped in with eight points apiece with Teape also ripping down a game-high 12 rebounds – six of which came on the offensive glass – in 26 minutes. Deaver recorded three rebounds and two assists, while playing a team-high 36 minutes on the night.

SUNY New Paltz shot nearly 43 percent from the field and 42 percent from 3-point range, while limiting Buffalo State to 31 percent from the field and forcing 24 turnovers in the game. The Hawks kept every Bengal to single-digits except for Villarini, who finished with a game-high 20 points after making 5-for-8 from the perimeter.

"I think we did a good job other than letting [Villarini] get free several times in the second half," Seward continued. "We did a good job of getting back and not letting other kids do what they do well. Overall, I think we did a pretty good job executing the defensive game plan. Offensively it took us a little while. First quarter we did a good job and in the second quarter we kind of got away from it and then in the third quarter we made a bunch of 3's and that makes everything look good."

The win advances SUNY New Paltz into the SUNYAC Championship game against No. 2 seed SUNY Cortland, which defeated SUNY Geneseo in the early semifinal matchup, 42-33. The Hawks and Red Dragons split their regular season series, with SUNY New Paltz claiming the most recent victory Feb. 18 in overtime in the Hawk Center.

"They have two really good guards and a post presence, and then they have a bunch of players who play really well around them," Dietz said. "That's what makes a really good team, just knowing what your role is and I think Cortland knows what their roles [are] as different players."

The Hawks and Red Dragons are set to tip-off for the SUNYAC Championship title at 4 p.m. in the Hawk Center.

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