New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz had a stout defensive outing Friday night in the Hawk Center and held the visiting Lakers from Oswego to their second lowest point total of the season in a 56-37 victory.
 
SUNY New Paltz had a tumultuous week where the longest road trip on its schedule was pushed to Sunday-Monday due to the ice storm that hit the Hudson Valley. The Hawks split the slate of games against Buffalo State and Fredonia following the six-hour trip and finally came home on short rest to host Oswego Friday with a big matchup looming Saturday against conference undefeated SUNY Cortland Saturday.
 
"I definitely think we needed this win today, especially at home," said SUNY New Paltz sophomore guard Brianna Fitzgerald who came off an electric performance against the Blue Devils Monday, as she was just a steal shy from recording a triple double. "We've been on the road, long trips, long hours putting in work. I definitely think today was a huge team win. We needed players one through 13 to contribute and I think we did that and I think we've got a really good team moral going. We need that going into Cortland tomorrow. They're a tough team and we're going to need every single player, whether they're in the game or whether they're on the bench, every single player needs to be locked into that game and contributing in whatever way they can."
 
 
Both offense's had an off night with the Hawks shooting just less than 34 percent from the floor and making 4-for-22 from 3-point range. However, their smothering defense forced the Lakers into 30 turnovers as Oswego shot a lackluster 26 percent, including just 2-for-17 from behind the arc.
 
"A lot of times, and I don't think it's just this basketball team I think it's pretty typical, when you struggle scoring it starts to impact your defense and I told the team after the game, that's probably the best thing about the game tonight was that didn't happen," said SUNY New Paltz coach Jamie Seward. "We had that lull there in the second quarter where they went on a run, but I thought in spite of us really scoring the ball and finishing around the basket, missing open 3's and missing free throws, we still were able to maintain a pretty good defensive effort and presence throughout the game.
 
The two teams combined for just 11 points in the first six-plus minutes of action off the opening tip with Logan Nyemcheck giving the Lakers a 6-5 advantage with less than four minutes to go. Maddie Gillis gave SUNY New Paltz a spark off the bench as she helped ignite a 12-2 stretch to end the first quarter that included a 10-0 run, as she accounted for five of the 10 points scored in the span.

The Hawks needed the 17-8 cushion heading into the second, as the Lakers out-scored them 16-10 in the period to tie the game at 21. Jenny Walton pushed SUNY New Paltz's advantage to as many as eight early in the quarter, but Oswego countered with an 8-0 run in the following four minutes to knot the score. Fitzgerald ended the unanswered stretch with a make in the paint and worked her way back inside a possession later off a nice feed from Graci Serravillo to earn the bucket and foul and extend the lead back to three at 25-22 with 2:30 remaining in the half. The two teams traded baskets in the final two minutes and then both went scoreless in the last 1:43 to hold the difference to 27-24 in favor of the Hawks at the half. 
SUNY New Paltz was cold at the start of the second half. Serravillo scored inside the paint to push the lead to 29-25 within the first 20 seconds and the Hawks went without a point until the 3:44 mark of the third quarter with Oswego making a run to knot the score once more ta 29-all following a banked 3-pointer by Danielle Caivana.
 
A media timeout ensued, and the Hawks continued to buckle down defensively and worked hard on the offensive side to find baskets. Julia Sabatino helped kick-start the run by hustling down the floor for a fast-break bucket to break the tie. Serravillo added on a possession later on a good backdoor cut and a nice feed from Fitzgerald. Lexi Van Vorst attacked the hoop and got her layup to go next time down the floor and Sabatino again connected to extend the difference to eight before Serravillo knocked down a huge 3 in the corner as the game clock expired to boost SUNY New Paltz up 40-29 — its largest lead up to that point.
 
"At that media timeout in the third quarter we said, 'time is ticking here — there's four and a half minutes,' and I think it was 29-29 at that point," Seward said. "I said, 'you know, they already banked two 3's at this point. We're six or seven minutes away from a banked 3 being the deciding factor in the game,' and fortunately we turned it up there in the half and forced a couple turnovers and got a couple extra possessions and then we made a couple shots and Graci made a 3 to close the quarter, which we didn't have a whole lot of those, but that was big to open up that double-digit lead just from a psychological standpoint."
 
The Hawks carried the momentum into the fourth and pushed the advantage to as many as 17 thanks to a pair of made free throws by Gillis. Seward used his bench to close out the game in final six-minutes or so with Madison Mullman and Morgan Hammell each contributing with made 3's to help top-off a 19-point victory.
 
"It's just a team boosting thing, especially when you take out some players who need a rest who've been playing for a lot and then you see those players step it up. They're doing it for you, and we play for each other always," Fitzgerald said. "It's just a really good feeling when you're on the bench watching them go play as hard as they can. You know they're doing it for you because they know that you would be playing as hard as they are if you were in."
 
Fitzgerald ended with a game-high 12 points on 6-for-19 shooting with seven rebounds, two assists and a team-best four steals. Serravillo followed with 10 points (4-7) with five boards, three assists and two blocks. Gillis chipped in with 10 rebounds, seven points, two assists, a block and three steals in 25 minutes.
 
"We needed to finish the regular season strong and put us in the best position for seeding, but most importantly the purpose of feeling good about ourselves and our team moving forward feeling like we still have room to improve, but we're actually making steps in that direction," said Seward.
 
SUNY New Paltz will try and split its regular season series against SUNY Cortland Saturday as the SUNYAC-leading Red Dragons enter the Hawk Center at 18-2 overall and 14-0 in the conference. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.

Highlights & Post-Game Interview Featuring Brianna Fitzgerald


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