The State University of New York at New Paltz is off to Western New York this weekend, which begins a 12-game march through the SUNYAC. Starting its quest for a seventh consecutive trip to the SUNYAC tournament in late February, the Hawks matchup Friday evening with The College at Brockport and Saturday afternoon against SUNY Geneseo.
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The Golden Eagles enters the weekend with an overall record of 7-7 and a 4-3 SUNYAC mark. Tuesday afternoon Brockport concluded its season series with league leading Cortland, dropping an 81-50 decision to the Red Dragons. Friday night's game with SUNY New Paltz is the first meeting between the two this season; last season the Hawks won the season series, earn 60-55 and 64-37 wins on the road in the Hawk Center, respectively. The overall series record, beginning in 1989-90, stands at 26-24 in favor of SUNY New Paltz.
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As a team, Brockport is averaging 60.2 points per game while yielding 61.5 points against and pulling down 45.8 rebounds per game to its opposition's 43.2. The Golden Eagles are registering about nine steals and five blocks per game, while scoring nearly 14 points off opponent's turnovers.
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Topping the scoring chart for Brockport has been senior guard Anna Felice (5'6, Owego, NY). Felice is averaging 12.2 points and 3.5 rebounds per game with 21 assists and 12 steals. First-year guard Stephanie Jean-Baptiste (5'8, Jersey City, NJ) hit for 10 points against Cortland Tuesday, hitting on her average on the season. Junior forward Zairea Hannah (6'1, Rochester, NY) pulled down 11 rebounds against the Red Dragons and is averaging nearly nine points and nine rebounds per game with eight blocks. Â Junior forward Juan Brown (5'11, Buffalo, NY) led the Golden Eagles with 11 points, eight rebounds and three blocks against Cortland and is averaging 8.8 points and 6.3 rebounds per game with 16 steals and a team high 13 blocks on the year.
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Heading south on I-390 Saturday, the Hawks will find themselves in Geneseo's Schrader Gym, always a tough place to play. Last season, the two programs met three times with the Knights winning at home 63-56, but SUNY New Paltz earning the 59-46 win in the Hawk Center. The Hawks then eliminated Geneseo's season in the rubber match, 53-41 in the SUNYAC Tournament semifinal round. The Knights leads the overall series, 37-25.
Currently with a 9-3 overall record and a 4-1 SUNYAC mark, Geneseo's last outing saw it drop a 73-52 game to SUNY Oswego. On the season, the Knights are averaging about 62 points per game, while limiting opponents to 49.4 points per game with a solid 39.6-30.8 rebounds per game margin. Geneseo is averaging nearly 10 steals and 3.3 blocks a contest and totaling 16 points an outing off opponent turnovers.
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Leading the Knights offensively is forward Lauren Romito (6'3, Hauppague, NY) with the senior earning SUNYAC Women's Basketball Player of the Week honors last week following back-to-back double-double games in victories over the Golden Eagles and Lakers. On the season, Romito is averaging 14.7 points per game on 61.3 percent shooting from the floor and 10.5 rebounds a contest with 11 steals and 21 blocks.
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Junior guard Kiley Snow (6'0, Whitesboro, NY) is second in scoring with 10.8 points and 3.4 rebounds per game with 16 steals. A Second Team All-SUNYAC selection last year, senior guard Hannah Stockman (5'10, Northport, NY) is averaging nearly 10 points per game with 14 steals. Another Northport, NY product is junior forward Kerry Dennin hitting for 8.1 points per game and a team-high 10 boards a contest with 26 assists and 19 steals. Rounding out the Knights top five in scoring is Third Team All-SUNYAC sophomore guard Mackenzie Reigle (5'7, Batavia, NY) with a 5.3-points and 2.4 rebounds per game average for the season.
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SUNY New Paltz enters the weekend sporting a 10-3 overall record, sitting second in SUNYAC with a 6-0 conference mark after last Saturday's win over SUNY Oneonta 48-35 with SUNY Cortland at 8-0 the only other conference undefeated.
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The Hawks are averaging 64.7 point per game, allowing opponents to just 48.3 points against and are out rebounding foes by a margin of 40.2-33.5. SUNY New Paltz is averaging 16.7 steals and 2.4 blocks per game while scoring an average 21 points an outing off opponent turnovers.
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Balanced scoring has been the theme this season for the Hawks. Junior guard/forward
Brianna Fitzgerald (5'10, Dix Hills, NY) tops the team's scoring at nearly 13 points and eight rebounds per game with 36 assists and 32 steals on the year. Junior guard
Jenny Walton (5'8, Glenwood Landing, NY) follows offensively, averaging 9.6 points, and 3.6 rebounds per game with 19 steals. Junior forward
Abby Korzekwinski (6'0, Shoreham, NY) adds 7.1 points and 4.5 boards per game and is coming off her first career double-double performance with 13 points and 10 rebounds to lead SUNY New Paltz past Oneonta. Senior guard/forward
Maddie Gillis (5'9, Levittown, NY) is hitting for
6.5 points and 3.6 rebounds per game with 25 assists and 13 steals. Senior guard
Lexi Van Vorst (5'6, East Greenbush, NY) rounds out the top five for the Hawks with 6.3 points, two rebounds a contest with 25 assists and 22 steals on the season.
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SUNY New Paltz is set to face Brockport Friday at 5:30 p.m. before taking on Geneseo Saturday at 2 p.m.
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