Newburgh, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz matched up against Mount Saint Mary College for its season opener Tuesday night with the Hawks holding off a tough Knights team to earn a 70-53 win.

SUNY New Paltz held a slight three-point advantage at the end of the first half with Mount Saint Mary getting a productive performance from Katie Smith and Lauren Desrats who combined to score 28 of the team's 53 points on the night on an efficient 11-for-21 shooting performance. Coach Jamie Seward made a defensive adjustment on Smith in the second half, matching up senior guard Cassidy Deaver who stepped up to limit Smith to just two second-half points.

"First of all, a lot of credit to coach [Colleen] Ames and her team," Seward said. "They played so aggressively, and they had us on our heels for most of the night. They took advantage when we tried to be aggressive. Katie Smith was able to get wherever she wanted especially in the first half. Desrats just played a really nice overall game. We had a tough time defending her, and then they were beating us to what seemed like every loose ball and rebound in the first half. Luckily, we were able to keep it close as they missed some open 3's.

"We finally started to get some traction in the third quarter, and I thought Cassidy had a lot to do with that. After Katie Smith got into the paint and scored in the second half, I turned to Cass and was like, 'can you guard this kid?' She definitely made it a lot tough for her down the stretch."

The Hawks had an explosive third quarter, out-scoring the Knights 22-9 with Jenny Walton and Brianna Fitzgerald leading the way as the two scored every point in the period to help SUNY New Paltz to a 10-point lead entering the fourth.
After closing the third quarter on a 22-7 run, SUNY New Paltz continued its momentum into the final 10 minutes where it piled onto its double-digit lead and came away with the 70-53 victory.

Walton finished with a game, and career-high 25 points to go along with six rebounds and one assist. Fitzgerald was all over collecting 15 points, eight rebounds, two assist, four steals and a block. Graci Serravillo and Maddie Gillis each finished with eight points and played significant minutes to help the Hawks get their first win on the season. For the Knights, Distrats led the way with 16 points and six rebounds while teammate Smith had 12 points, three assists and five rebounds.

"Jenny has been so good all preseason and in the scrimmages, especially with her activity level on defense, and tonight to start the game we didn't see that," Seward said. "I told her as she walked on the floor in the second half that I wasn't going to give her much rope if she wasn't going to be active off the ball on defense. It was certainly fortunate that she responded to the challenge on defense, because her offense really opened up the game quick over that stretch late in the third and into the fourth."

The Hawks next game is their home opener Friday where they will host the Hawks of Hartwick in the Hawk Center at 7 p.m.

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