New Paltz, NY —The State University of New York at New Paltz remained undefeated at home Saturday after handing visiting Cortland its first SUNYAC loss of the season, earning the 51-42 win over the first-place Red Dragons.
 
"Coming into this game, we were really hyped and really ready to go," said Hawks junior guard Maddie Gillis. "We didn't have a good showing last time we played at their place. We didn't execute the game plan whatsoever and we knew today if we came out and executed the game plan, some of our shots started falling and we knew we were going to pull it out."
 
SUNY New Paltz held Cortland to a season-low 42 points with the team averaging nearly 70 points per game heading into the matchup. The Hawks' victory also snapped a 17-game winning streak for the Red Dragons who dropped to 18-3 overall and 14-1 in the conference, which included a commanding victory over SUNY New Paltz earlier this season. Cortland shot just 24 percent Saturday and missed all 15 attempts from the behind the arc, a stark contrast from the 12-for-23 showing it had against the Hawks on its home floor two weeks prior.
 
SUNY New Paltz ultimately avenged the early season loss to even the series, as a prolific second quarter helped stymie a second-half run.
 
"They really hurt us with the 3 the first time around, so we tried to stay a little tighter on the perimeter, but we were also fortunate they missed on some wide open looks in the first and the fourth," said Hawks coach Jamie Seward. "We shot the ball poorly up there and they shot poorly here. I think that was the difference more than anything."
 
 
After looking up at a 17-6 deficit following the first 10 minutes of action, SUNY New Paltz swung the game its way in the second quarter of action. The Hawks held the Red Dragons to a basket, while they in turn, shot 50 percent from the field with junior Maddie Gillis leading the way off the bench.
 
Gillis got the offense rolling with a 3-pointer two minutes into the period off a kick-out by Lexi Van Vorst. Gillis added three more, aggressively attacking the basket and finishing strong for the and-1 before completing the traditional 3-point play. Following a miss next time down the floor by the Red Dragons, Brianna Fitzgerald found Gillis again who added to the run. Abby Korzekwinski officially gave the Hawks the lead at 17-16, finishing inside for two and Graci Serravillo topped off the 10-0 stretch off an assist by Julia Sabatino.
 
Casey Travers put an end to the run with Cortland's only made basket of the quarter with about four minutes to go in the half, but Sabatino lit up SUNY New Paltz's home bench and crowed with a swish from 3 off a dish by Gillis. Jenny Walton added to the action, driving and finishing at the hoop. Victoria Venus quickly gave the Hawks back possession forcing a turnover as the Red Dragons in-bounded, which led to another tough bucket underneath by Gillis, who snatched her own rebound, took the contact, got her second try to go and earned the foul. SUNY New Paltz then ended the period strong, as Korzekwinski ripped away an offensive rebound from Cortland to find Sabatino open on the block for two, which extended the Hawks cushion to 10 at the break. 
"Game plan going into the game was that we were just going to play a straight switch and we know that all five of their players on the court can attack and go off at any point in the game, so we knew we couldn't give up 3-point shooting — that's where they score most of their points — we just needed to keep them in front and defensive rebound, we knew we were going to be able to hold them," Gillis said.
 
Cortland remained cold out of halftime, throwing up back-to-back air-balls on its first two offensive possessions and went scoreless until six minutes to play in the third with SUNY New Paltz forcing the visitors into five turnovers in that span before a made basket by Sarah Tully ended the streak. Following the make, Gillis pushed the ball up the floor and found Fitzgerald inside to flex the Hawks cushion to 16.
 
Van Vorst gave SUNY New Paltz its biggest lead of the game, swishing from the perimeter off a find by Venus and hit another big 3-pointer with just more than a minute to go to bring the lead back to 16 after Cortland began finding some rhythm offensively to stop its momentum. However, Van Vorst was called on her fourth foul in the final minute, forcing her to sit to start the last period.
 
The Red Dragons trimmed the deficit to 13 once more, but Fitzgerald came up clutch as the shot clock expired, hitting from 3-point land to boost the cushion to 16 entering the final 10 minutes.
 
Despite the double-digit difference, the Red Dragons didn't go away and put the Hawks in foul trouble as they continued to work the paint with their shooting from the arc stagnant on the day. Two made free throws by Nyia Longford trimmed the advantage to nine with 7:33 to play, but they couldn't tack on another as they missed their next seven attempts. Fitzgerald boosted the lead back to double figures, going coast-to-coast following a defensive rebound to earn two in transition. Both teams went scoreless in the following four minutes and SUNY New Paltz all but put the game away in the final minute by causing one last turnover on a defensive stand that led to a steal for Serravillo. With time ticking down and down by 11, the Red Dragons were forced to foul to stop the clock. Gillis hit the two from the line and although Cortland fought to get within nine, they couldn't connect on timely baskets and the Hawks closed out with the win.
 

😤😤😤 @MaddieGillis1 pic.twitter.com/I80Gf0hTSn

— New Paltz Hawks (@nphawks) February 12, 2022

 
"This game, for me and for the team, gives us a lot of confidence going into next weekend and SUNYAC's the following week," Gillis added. "We really needed this. We've been going up and down the whole season, so hopefully we'll keep climbing and staying on this high and bring it into the next two weeks."
 
Gillis finished with a game-high 14 points on 5-for-12 shooting with nine rebounds, three assists and two steals. Van Vorst followed with 11 points (4-15) and added four rebounds and an assist. Fitzgerald chipped in with nine points (4-11), three rebounds and a team-leading four steals and five assists. Serravillo played a team-high 38 minutes and totaled seven rebounds, two steals and six points.
 
"Maddie played well," Seward said. "She attacked the basket very aggressively and she also made some alert plays on defense as well and got a couple big steals."
 
The win pushed the Hawks ahead of SUNY Geneseo in the conference standings where they sit second with a 12-4 SUNYAC mark behind the still first-place Red Dragons. SUNY New Paltz, which clinched a postseason berth for the seventh-straight season, will end the regular season on its home floor next weekend against Plattsburgh and Potsdam.

Highlights & Post-Game Interview with Maddie Gillis

*************************
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.