New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team fought through a tight first half to find its stride in the final 20 minutes Tuesday in its home opener against Mount Saint Mary's College. The Hawks buckled down defensively and became more active on the glass, which ultimately helped shift momentum and propel them offensively to come away with its first win of the season, 76-60.
"After 20 months, it feels great to get back on the floor and play a game period and it feels even better to get a win, especially with a tough-fought first half that we had," said SUNY New Paltz junior guard
Lexi Van Vorst. "Being down a point at halftime, we really came back and showed what we could do in the second half and it felt great to get a win today with this group of girls."
The Hawks (1-0 overall) faced former women's basketball alum Colleen Ames '15 whose Knights team also experienced their first action in nearly two years Tuesday. With Ames on the opposite bench, and SUNY New Paltz stepping onto the floor for the first time this season, the Hawks brought a large crowd of women's basketball alumni who were in the stands to show their support.
"I was telling the girls this morning in their individual work out groups that we have New Paltz Women's Basketball royalty there," Seward said. "You've got at least two people in Taylor [Howell] and Kit [Small] who will come down and curse you out if you don't play hard in the first half. I was waiting for them to come in at halftime, because we didn't play that hard in the first half.... But today was amazing was see. I was telling them, that's why you come to New Paltz to play basketball here. You might not get some of the stuff that other programs get or whatever, but you get a chance to play for something that means something long after the last time you suit up and I think them all being here like that for the first game in however many days was really special."
Gallery: (11-9-2021) Women's Basketball vs. MSMC 11/9/21
The first half started slow for both teams, with neither hitting a shot until two minutes into the first quarter. Mount Saint Mary's took the opening lead and held on throughout the first, hitting five straight baskets, starting with a 3-pointer by Katie Smith and capped off with another 3 by Lauren Desrats to push the visitors ahead, 12-4.
Graci Serravillo put an end to the scoring drought for the Hawks, as she hit from the perimeter to give her team their first points since the opening three minutes of the game.
"I think it's probably about what we should have expected," Seward said. "Nobody has played in a long time and I think you saw that in the first 12-15 minutes of the game, just sloppy unforced turnovers. Both ways had sloppy play and then I think the middle of the second quarter they settled in a little bit earlier. They made one run that opened it up to eight or nine or whatever it was. Then I think we found ourselves there shortly there after and did finish the half pretty strong."
SUNY New Paltz started closing the gap toward the end of the quarter, as
Abby Korzekwinski gave the Hawks good minutes off the bench, scoring her first collegiate bucket off a put-back in the paint. Van Vorst cut the deficit to three at the end of the first quarter, staying aggressive and earning a trip to the foul line after getting into the paint, hitting both attempts.
"I definitely felt like I had to step up offensively early today," Van Vorst said after finishing with a game-high. "My shot wasn't falling, but I fought my way to the basket and we got some of their key players in foul trouble early by being aggressive to the basket."
Half of SUNY New Paltz's turnovers came in the first quarter alone with the team making just 4-of-14 from the floor, while the Knights converted on 6-of-12. Mount Saint Mary's carried its momentum into the second quarter and quickly established a nine-point cushion, starting with an and-one at the rim by Smith. The Knights continued to get easy looks in the paint and went on a 7-0 run before
Maddie Gillis answered with a made basketball underneath.
Van Vorst then helped SUNY New Paltz get back in, cutting into the paint she trimmed the deficit to six with about six minutes to go in the half. She grabbed the ensuing defensive rebound following a miss by Mount Saint Mary's then added a made 3 a minute later to get her team within five. Van Vorst stepped in and took a charge on Erin Smith heading into the paint to get the Hawks bench and the crowd back into the game.
Out of a media timeout,
Jenny Walton was quick on the release swishing a 3-pointer to cut the deficit, 23-21.
Julia Sabatino helped SUNY New Paltz within one on a made bucket beyond the perimeter, before
Brianna Fitzgerald scored her first points of the contest off a Walton steal in transition to push the Hawks head for the first time in the game, 28-27.
"I felt like we made a couple mistakes that were costly that may have given us a little bit of a lead going into the half, but it was nice to get back into the game after being down as much as we were and make a couple shots," Seward said. "Jenny came in and made a 3 when we were struggling to get us back and feeling a little bit better."
The Knight answered with a basket with 20 seconds left in the half, but the momentum was already swung in the Hawks direction as they entered the break.
"Halftime we really wanted to build off our defense because we knew we could speed them up," Van Vorst said. "We have bigger, stronger girls on our team, especially in the guard position so we were really trying to get them going with our defense, get some traps, easy steals and turnovers, which we really executed and that helped us get some fast-break layups and definitely helped our confidence on the offensive end."
Van Vorst hit an opening 3 with Mount Saint Mary's countering with a trip to the line on the other end. Gillis came back to put SUNY New Paltz in front once again, as she started to heat up offensively finishing strong at the hoop. Katie Smith hit from 3-point range to exchange leads once more, but following an offensive put-back, and-one by Serravillo, the Hawks never looked back.
SUNY New Paltz kept the Knights scoreless for five-plus minutes as it slowly built a steady cushion. Fitzgerald put an exclamation mark on the game and what felt like the win, skying through to snatch an offensive board. Mount Saint Mary's was hit with a technical on the play on top of a personal. Fitzgerald knocked down all four free throws and the Hawks soon boasted a nine-point advantage, which was quickly extended with a basket by Korzekwinski.
"I thought Abby came in and did a really good job. Abby and Cassidy defensively changing the momentum both coming up with offensive rebounds, Cassidy making a couple plays in transition and ultimately that gave us enough of a cushion," Seward said. "We had some chances to open it up sooner, but allowed a couple plays, a couple 3's and a couple offensive rebounds that let them hang around a little longer than we would have liked, but we were able to finish it out, make some free throws at the end and take care of the basketball."
SUNY New Paltz held an eight-point lead at the end of the third quarter and extended to as many as 19 in the fourth, hitting 7-of-8 free throws in the final minute to ice the win.
The Hawks finished the game shooting 38 percent from the field and nearly 30 percent from 3-point range, while defensively they totaled 11 steals and caused 22 Knight turnovers.
Van Vorst led all scorers with 15 points, shooting 6-for-15 from the field. Gillis nearly came away with a triple-double, following with 14 points, seven assists and seven rebounds with two steals. Fitzgerald finished with an impressive collegiate debut, ending with a double-double on 11 points and a team-high 10 rebounds — five of which came on the offensive glass, while also adding five assists, a block and two steals. Korzekwinski was crucial on the glass as well, recording eight rebounds to go along with six points and a block.
"Abby played great in her first collegiate game today," Van Vorst said. "She really stepped up and got some big boards, played some great defense and got some deflections. Bri Fitzgerald definitely stepped up on offense,
Maddie Gillis played great on offense and
Jenny Walton came in and got some deflections and got us some steals."
SUNY New Paltz is back in action this weekend as it enters the University of Rochester Tournament. The Hawks open up with the hosting Yellowjackets Friday at 8 p.m.
Post-Game Interview with Lexi Van Vorst
*********************
To stay up to date with everything #NPHawks be sure to follow us on
Twitter at
@nphawks,
Instagram and
Facebook at
@newpaltzhawks, and subscribe to our
Youtube channel,
New Paltz Hawks.
