SUNY New Paltz Athletics

New Paltz, NY — Heading into its home opener Friday night in the Hawk Center, the State University of New York at New Paltz was riding a streak of 10-straight undefeated games at home. The last time the Hawks lost on their home floor was March, 2020 in the NCAA Tournament — a place they hope to get back to in 2023 with eyes set on a deeper national championship run.
 
They opened up that journey Tuesday with a season-opening win and doubled-down against Hartwick Friday, extending their home winning streak to 11 games while rolling to a 67-33 victory over the visiting, short-handed Hawks.
 
"After being undefeated [at home] last season — and here there's a tradition of being undefeated at home — before the game we were all just getting hyped that we don't lose at home. We all knew we had to bring that energy today," said SUNY New Paltz junior forward Madison Mullman who put up a team-high 16 points on the night.
 
The hosting Hawks were in command from the opening tip and got contributions all along their bench. Coach Jamie Seward played his entire 16-man roster with 12 different scorers in the game, as his bench contributed to more than half of their offense.
 
"This game I think everyone contributed on the bench," Mullman said. "A lot of different people got a lot of minutes, and we just did what we had to do, keeping up the pressure, speeding them up and running our offense."

 
 
SUNY New Paltz took a commanding 16-2 lead after the first quarter and extended the advantage to 16 to start the second, as Graci Serravillo ripped down an offensive board and kicked out to Lexi Van Vorst who drove and finished through traffic in the lane. The Hawks continued to apply pressure and run the floor as Brianna Fitzgerald gave her team the largest lead of the period on a transition bucket following a good feed by Madison Gillis with SUNY New Paltz ultimately holding a 28-9 lead at halftime.
 
Hartwick cut the difference as close as 17 early in the third, but the Hawks started building a cushion after forcing turnovers on their press. Jenny Walton created a turnover on a steal that led to a pair of free throws for Abby Korzekwinski who knocked both down to start a mini run. Fitzgerald won the ball back off the ensuing inbound, which resulted in a made 3-pointer thanks to an offensive board by Cassidy Deaver. Two minutes later, Victoria Venus got inside the paint and earned a pair of free throws to extend the lead back to 22 with four minutes left in the quarter.
Mullman gave her team their largest lead of the third quarter at 50-25 after knocking down one of her five shots from the perimeter. The East Northport, NY native got hot with the make as she opened up the final 10 minutes with back-to-back swishes from behind the arc, then followed with a trip to the foul line, creating her own 9-0 run to begin the fourth, creating a 31-point lead for the Hawks.

"This being the start of the season I know I have a lot to prove and being a shooter, I knew what I needed to do coming in was to knock down those shots," Mullman said. "Coming in I felt comfortable just getting my shot up. We were running our offense to get those shots and I knew I just had to come in and knock them down."
 
Stasia Epler helped cement the 67-33 outcome with her second 3-pointer of the night, as the freshman ended her first career game with seven points, one assist and two rebounds in 14 minutes played.
 
Overall, the Hawks shot 33.3 percent from the field and about 31 percent from 3-point range. They out-rebounded the visiting Hawks 41-37 and forced 29 turnovers on 16 steals, while totaling 19 assists as a team. Fitzgerald and Van Vorst joined Mullman in double-figure scoring with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
 
SUNY New Paltz is back in the Hawk Center Saturday for a 2 p.m. game against Misericordia University. The Hawks defeated the Cougars last season on the road, 72-63.
 
"Tomorrow we definitely expect a little bit more pressure," Mullman said. "We know we have to handle that pressure, but still be able to run our offense against them."

Post-Game Interview with Madison Mullman


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