The State University of New York at New Paltz is coming off a perfect 3-0 week after earning a conference sweep of Oneonta and Brockport and avenging a loss against Geneseo five days later in the Hawk Center to even the season series.
 
Heading into the weekend, the Hawks face the only two conference teams they have yet to play thus far in SUNY Cortland and Oswego State. The two teams are listed at the opposite ends of the SUNYAC standings with the Red Dragons undefeated at 8-0, while the Lakers are 0-9 heading into the weekend.
 
Cortland, which SUNY New Paltz defeated to claim the programs fifth SUNYAC title two years ago, started the 2021-22 season hot. The Red Dragons returned nine players from their 2019-20 squad, including starters Nyia Longford, Casey Travers and Shannon McGuire.
 
"In 2020, that game for us was really big, and that's why today in practice and all throughout this week we've been really emphasizing how important this game is, because it's really time for us to come back swinging," said Hawks junior forward Semaiah Williams. "We know they're going to come hard and play hard. We're expecting that."
 
 
Since going 1-2 in their first three games with losses against Misericordia — which the Hawks defeated earlier in the year —and Hartwick, Cortland rattled off 11-straight wins, while keeping its opposition to less than 41 points per game in that streak.
 
Through their first 14 games, the team has had a balanced effort offensively. Junior forward Maggie Malone leads the way averaging 11.1 points per game, while pulling down 4.6 rebounds. Junior forward Longford follows with 10.9 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, while junior guard Travers is averaging 9.2 points and 4.9 rebounds a contest. Junior guard Sarah Tully and fifth-year guard McGuire round out Cortland's starting lineup with the two averaging 8.2 and 7.6 points per game with Tully second on the team in rebounding with 6.1 boards per game and McGuire Cortland's main facilitator averaging 3.4 assists per game.
 
Overall, Cortland leads the SUNYAC in points per game (65.1) and lands second in the conference in shooting percentage (38.6), rebounds (45.3), assists (14.4) and steals (10.4) with SUNY New Paltz leading the latter category, averaging 10.6 steals a contest.
"Defensively, I know they are going to try to make us not get any shots that we want and we need to make sure that we do get the shots that we want," Williams said.
 
For Oswego, its three wins on the year was against non-conference competition over Hilbert College, SUNY Delhi and Wells College with its last victory coming on Nov. 28 against the Express.
 
Although the Lakers are on a nine-game skid, their last two outings were tough efforts against Cortland and Geneseo, falling by just four points to the Red Dragons and only two against the Knights with both matchups coming on the road. 
 
Senior guard Danielle Caivana leads Oswego offensively, averaging 13.5 points per game, while shooting 33 percent from the field. Freshman forward Diamond Pickett is the team's leading rebounder, pulling down about nine boards per game. Sophomore guard Chastin Giles is second on the team in points (8.6), assists (1.2), third in rebounds (5.3) and first in assists (3.3) per game.
 
"They're two completely different games," Williams said. "Just like how we played Brockport and Geneseo, they're two totally different type of teams so we need to know how to switch how we play from one day to the next and I think we executed that really well and I think we just have to do it again this weekend."
 
SUNY New Paltz is looking to earn its eighth straight win over the Lakers and is aiming to clinch nine victories in its last 10 games this weekend starting with the Red Dragons Friday.
 
The Hawks have had a balanced team effort all season, getting contributions from along their rotation. In their win over Oneonta Jan. 18, Lexi Van Vorst and Brianna Fitzgerald led the way with 18 and 17 points, respectively. Against the Golden Eagles Jan. 21, junior guard Cassidy Deaver posted a career- and team-high 12 points and in the win over Geneseo, sophomore guard Jenny Walton also tallied a career and game-high 17 points off the bench.
 
Fitzgerald and junior guard Maddie Gillis pace the team in points and rebounds per game, averaging about 14 and 10 points and six rebounds, respectively. Gillis is also the team's top facilitator averaging nearly four assists a contest, while Williams is the Hawks' top shot blocker posting 23 thus far while averaging nearly two per game. She is 12 shy of breaking into the top-10 of the program's single season record list.
 
"For me, I feel like my biggest role is from the tipped ball to set the tone for the game," Williams said. "So, if I come in and win the tip ball and pass it to my teammate and we get that score that's just going to let us know how the game is going to go. Defensively, on the first play if the other team tries to go score and I'm standing right there in the paint ready to block it or stop them that sets the tone for the whole game. That just keeps our energy up for the whole game. I think my role is to set the tone for the game and obviously to rebound and block shots."
 
SUNY New Paltz is set to take on Cortland in Whitney T. Corey '43 Gymnasium Friday at 5:30 p.m. before tipping-off against Oswego State in Max Ziel Gymnasium Saturday at 2 p.m.

Weekend Preview Featuring Semaiah Williams


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