The State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team is back on the road Saturday, taking on Union College in Schenectady, NY for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
 
The Hawks (3-1) are coming off back-to-back road wins after suffering their first loss of the season Nov. 12 against tournament hosting University of Rochester. A lackluster performance defensively in the loss, the team rebounded in an efficient effort on the defensive side of the floor in wins over The College of New Jersey and Misericordia University, keeping both opponents to less than 36 percent from the floor and forcing 38 turnovers combined.
 
"We have been making more of that consistent effort to get the full 30-second stop. We talk a lot about finishing plays and that's a big thing for us. We're starting to set the tone," said SUNY New Paltz junior captain Graci Serravillo. "We were a lot better defensively against Misericordia, but again, it's about finishing the possession. Whether it's finishing the game, finishing the quarter, finishing the play, whatever it is. Securing that ball, securing that rebound — that's going to be our biggest focus right now, just being able to finish plays with the same intensity that we started them with." 
The Cougars had an explosive first quarter against SUNY New Paltz, hitting 53 percent from the field and 5-for-8 from 3-point range to get out to a 22-16 lead. The Hawks stiffened up defensively in the next three quarters and forced Misericordia into more contested shots, especially from the perimeter, as it finished the game 16-for-52 from the floor and just 5-for-20 from behind the arc, helping SUNY New Paltz to a 72-63 win.
 
Offensively, the Hawks are still finding their footing but have shown flashes of the depth they boast along their lineup. Junior Maddie Gillis and sophomore Brianna Fitzgerald are the catalysts, however, as the two have combined for 117 of the team's 276 points scored thus far. Gillis averages a team-leading 15.3 points per game, while shooting about 31 percent from the field and about 39 percent from the perimeter and averages nearly four assists, six rebounds and a steal per game. Fitzgerald has averaged 14 points on nearly 45 percent shooting, while pulling down nearly eight rebounds per game and totaling nearly three assists and two steals an outing.
 
"Through the first four games I think we realized we'll need to push the tempo against a lot of teams," Serravillo said. "We're going to have a size and athletic advantage against a lot of people, so we'll have to use that to our advantage, and I think especially in our last game against Misericordia, we kind of got our offensive footing. We pushed the ball in transition. If we didn't have that, we backed up and were able to run our sets and when we actually executed our sets we're getting good looks, we were scoring and through these first four games it taught us a lot."
 
Lexi Van Vorst follows Gillis and Fitzgerald offensively, averaging 12 points per game, while shooting nearly 31 percent from the floor. Sophomore Abby Korzekwinski has impressed in her first season, as the Shoreham, NY native broke into the starting lineup and leads the team in rebounding through four games. She posted a career-high 12 points in the win over the Cougars, while pulling down a career-high 13 rebounds against the Yellowjackets.
 
"I think we want to be a team that plays really fast and really aggressive. We're just always setting the tone no matter what happens and getting away from having lulls during games and during practice," Serravillo said. "Being able to put together a 40-minutes where we're attacking the entire time. Overall though I think we do still have a lot to learn with this team. I don't know what type of team we're going to be, but I think that's what's exciting too. We have these next four months still to develop that and see who we're going to be, but I think coming off Misercordia, we really had a good idea of, 'listen, we can come at teams. We can really set the tone and really turn them over and give us easy, quick transition points and allow us to set up our press and really be able to attack our opponents.'"
 
Entering Saturday's contest, the Dutchmen will have just one game under their belt before facing SUNY New Paltz and nearly three weeks in-between games as their season opener was Nov. 6 against Hartwick College. They were held to just 40 points in a 14-point loss after shooting 27.5 percent on 14-for-51 shooting, including 7-for-20 from 3-point range. Union didn't have a scorer reach double-figures but had first-year guard Riley Rottkamp contribute with nine points off the bench. Senior guard Amber Raisner followed with seven points, while also adding a team-leading five rebounds, four assists and two steals.
 
Union is one of the few games the Hawks play this season in the Albany region, a slight homecoming for Serravillo and Van Vorst from Altamont and East Greenbush, respectively.
 
"I know I have family and friends coming. It's Thanksgiving weekend so I have friends that are across the country at school and they're going to be home and going to be able to watch me play and they haven't seen me play since high school," Serravillo said. "I think it'll be fun to play in front of a real home crowed, because for me and Lexi New Paltz is the closest to Albany that we really play. Our parents are the ones usually who have to make the trip and now we get to make the trip there. We've played in the Union gym a million times, we know some of their former coaching staff and some of their players, so it's just really exciting to be able to play in front of the home crowd in Albany. It'll be exciting, but a little nerve-wracking too because there will be so many people."
 
The Hawks will look to earn their third-straight win Saturday before heading into their first conference game in nearly two years Nov. 30 when they host SUNY Oneonta in the Hawk Center. For all live stream and live stat links head to the official Hawks women's basketball schedule, here.

Union Game Preview Featuring Graci Serravillo


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