New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz opened up conference play Tuesday night in the Hawk Center against Catskill Cup rival SUNY Oneonta with the Hawks capturing the, 68-53 victory.
"After waiting two years to finally get back into conference play, we were all super amped up to get back on the court," said SUNY New Paltz junior guard
Victoria Venus. "We already had our five games, but we were super excited to go up against [Oneonta]. We just really wanted to come out and attack them and pressure them and that's what we did when we got onto the court today."
The Hawks (5-1 overall, 1-0 SUNYAC) went into the game wanting to put pressure on the visiting Red Dragons (2-5, 0-1), who averaged about 18 turnovers a game in their first six contests leading in. SUNY New Paltz ultimately forced Oneonta in a season-high 28 turnovers after finishing the night with its highest steal total of its first five games with 19.
However, the Hawks suffered an uncharacteristic 25 turnovers of their own, with a bulk coming off unforced errors in traveling violations and offensive fouls. The miscues early, especially, allowed the Red Dragons to stick around throughout the game.
Gallery: (11-30-2021) Women's Basketball vs Oneonta
"I thought we executed the game plan really well most of the night but had far too many fouls early in the second and third though that forced us to back off on the pressure," said SUNY New Paltz coach
Jamie Seward. "Unfortunately, we also had a lot of unforced turnovers — travels, illegal screens and offensive fouls. Then we had a player here and a player there lose focus or not be alert and gave away some points that way in the second half."
SUNY New Paltz got out to the initial lead, but the first quarter saw the score tied four times with a pair of lead changes before
Brianna Fitzgerald spun and got her bucket to go with a left-handed finish to push the Hawks out in front, 12-10.
Second and third chance opportunities allowed the Red Dragons to stay close early with Jenna Harclerode taking advantage with an and-1 after picking up the rebound off her own miss underneath. She completed the 3-point play after swishing the ensuing free throw to cut the lead, 17-15. SUNY New Paltz ended the quarter strong, playing tough defense to force a bad pass in the half court with
Maddie Gillis getting a deflection and
Lexi Van Vorst getting credited for the steal with
Abby Korzekwinski scoring on the opposite end in transition to finish the period and giving her team at 21-17 advantage.
The Hawks came out strong to open up the second, scoring 10 points, while forcing a pair of turnovers and holding Oneonta to a basket in the first two minutes to extend its cushion to 12 before the Red Dragons called their first timeout of the quarter with about eight minutes remaining, trailing 31-19.
Both teams struggled offensively for the next four minutes with neither side finding the bottom of the basket. SUNY New Paltz suffered 11 turnovers in the quarter and five came during that span, which allowed Oneonta to get back within nine after a made 3-pointer by Margaret Nardelli broke the scoreless streak. The Hawks answered on the opposite end however, as
Graci Serravillo hustled to grab the offensive rebound before kicking a pass out to
Jenny Walton who drove and found Gillis open for a 3 to push the difference back to 12. Each teams traded baskets with the hosts maintaining a 12-point lead at the break.
The Hawks put an emphasis on working the glass on both ends of the floor and the intent showed coming out of the break. They out-rebounded the Red Dragons, 43-39 in the game, including 25-10 on the offensive glass, but had an 24-19 advantage on the boards in the second half alone that catapulted a 18-point lead midway through the third quarter.
"Jenna Harclerode almost single-handily kept them around in the first half," Seward said. "She had four offensive rebounds and scored on all four including a 3-point play, but we started doing a better job there and really dominated our offensive glass all night. I kind of challenged them yesterday, just kind of asking them if I had to accept that we aren't going to be an elite offensive rebounding team, so it was nice to see them respond that way. Nevertheless, we need to do a much more consistent job rebounding on both sides of the court."
The catalyst in opening up the lead was Venus off the bench. The 6-foot-1 junior led the way with nine rebounds on the offensive end and finished with her first double-double of her career after scoring a career-high 12 points off the bench.
"I would say I started off the season a little shaky. I definitely wasn't confident as I should be, and so tonight I just went in and I knew I could dominate the other girls so that's what I had to do," she said.
However, Gillis was the one who got the quarter started, as she continued being aggressive attacking the paint and finished back-to-back tough shots at the rim fighting through contact to keep the difference at 12 with seven to go in the period.
Gabby Palladino gave productive minutes off the bench as well for the Hawks, as a solid defensive stand by the Newburgh, NY native led to a steal by Venus who was rewarded with a made 3-pointer on a kick-out by Fitzgerald on the opposite end. More stingy defensive work by Palladino forced the Red Dragons into another turnover with Fitzgerald picking up the steal on the play and Gillis finishing in transition to extend the cushion to 17 with more than four minutes to go in the third.
After Oneonta responded with a bucket underneath, Venus got her home bench on their feet after knocking down another 3-pointer, this time in the corner, to give SUNY New Paltz its largest advantage of the game at 18. After Venus scored again following a nice feed by Van Vorst, the Red Dragons scored last before quarter's end with another basket in the paint by Nadia Brown to trim the deficit to 15 heading into the final 10 minutes.
Walton opened the fourth with a 3-pointer following an offensive rebound by Venus to push the lead to 16 for the Hawks with nine minutes remaining in the contest, but Oneonta continued to work and got as close as eight following a Harclerode bucket in the paint with more than four minutes to go.
Serravillo and Palladino helped close out the game with a gritty performance defensively to stiff arm a Red Dragons come-back in the waning minutes. Seravillo made 1-of-2 from the foul line to get the lead to nine with about three minutes left and following a steal by Palladino, Fitzgerald helped SUNY New Paltz to a 12-point advantage after scoring on the offensive end. Two more steals by Palladino on back-to-back defensive possessions ultimately sealed the win with Gillis hitting a pair at the foul line in the final minute to solidify the 68-53 score.
"After the game we basically said that we knew we had the game in control the whole time," Venus said. "We just needed to go out and finish. We didn't finish every play like we should have. We didn't go after every rebound in the first half, so in the second half we knew that we have to go out next time and just dominate the whole game like we should."
Fitzgerald led all scorers with 17 points, while adding 10 rebounds for her second double-double this season, to go along with five assists, five steals and two blocks, but the first-year did finish with a team-high eight turnovers in 31 minutes where she shot 7-for-14 from the field.
"Bri played a little too fast and got ahead of herself several times, hence the turnovers, but she's such a relentless attacker and puts so much pressure on defense," Seward said.
Gillis followed with 15 points on 6-for-13 shooting and added five rebounds, five assists and a steal to her stat line. Venus ended a career-night with 14 points, 12 rebounds, one assist, one block and two steals in 20 minutes off the bench, shooting 6-for-11 from the floor and 2-for-3 from the perimeter.
"Vick played with a lot of energy, gave up a couple on the defensive side, but she was a big-time presence on the offensive glass for sure," Seward said. "I thought Graci was one of the really key players tonight. She plays with such passion and intensity, not many players can impose their will on a game with her voice, but I think Graci did that tonight.
"I was also happy to see some really good signs of both Jenny and Gabby breaking out tonight," he added. "Jenny attacked the basket, which I had a hunch about, and made a couple 3's, but more importantly she was more locked in and aggressive on the defensive side than she's been. And late in the game Gabby was the menacing defender I always talk about her having the potential to be and was big helping us close out the game."
SUNY New Paltz continues SUNYAC play Friday and Saturday when it goes on the road to face SUNY Potsdam and Plattsburgh State for 5:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. tip-offs, respectively.
Post-Game Interview with Victoria Venus
Hawks vs. Oneonta Game Highlights (11/30/21)
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