Las Vegas, NV — The State University of New York New Paltz enter the 14th annual D3Hoops Classic Holiday Tournament Saturday at South Point Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Hawks (3-4 overall, 2-0 SUNYAC) first matchup pits them against California Lutheran before concluding the tournament Monday against Colorado College. Tip-off Saturday is scheduled for 2 pm. PST (5 p.m. eastern standard), along with Monday's game against the Tigers.
SUNY New Paltz faces the Regals for the first time in program history. California Lutheran has won its last two games and holds a 5-3 overall record while 0-2 in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC). It most recently played Dec. 18 and Dec. 20 in Thousand Oaks, California against Whitworth University and The College of New Jersey to break a two-game losing streak against conference rivals Pomona-Pitzer and University of Redlands.
Sophomore forward Alline Ballard leads the Regals offensively, averaging 11.4 points per game, while pulling down 11.4 boards a contest. She's recorded a double-double in two of her last four games thus far, including a season-high 21 points against Redlands while shooting 10-for-18 from the floor in a productive 26 minutes. The 6-foot-1-inch forward also hauled in a season-high 21 rebounds against Whitworth, while adding four assists and is most recently coming off a 15-point, nine-rebound game against TCNJ.
Ballard is followed offensively by another big, in 6'2 center Aliya DiMuro who has totaled nearly nine points and seven rebounds per game and is also coming off a double-double outing in the team's win over TCNJ. Junior guard Jenna Holley facilitates the offense, as the point guard leads the team in assists with 27 on the year, averaging about three per game while adding 19 steals through the team's eight games and averages about eight points and four rebounds per game.
Gallery: (12-27-2024) Women's Basketball Las Vegas Prac 12/27
As a team, Cal Lutheran scores about 63 points per game, while yielding 62 against. Its numbers against its opposition are similar, as the Regals shoot 36.1 percent from the floor while allowing opponents to shoot 36.6 percent. They limit 3-point shooting to only 23.6 percent, but they also shoot less than 30 percent from behind the arc.
Cal Lutheran will have the advantage in games played over the Hawks who haven't been in action since Dec. 10. After dropping their first three games, they went on a three-game winning streak to get back to .500 on the year but is coming off a loss at home against NESCAC's Hamilton, 75-64.
Graduate guard
Julia Sabatino has led the way for SUNY New Paltz, putting up her best numbers of her career through seven games. She became just the third player ever to record a triple-double, notching a 10-point, 11-rebound and 10-assist outing in a win over Buffalo State Dec. 7. On the year, she's averaging nine points, six rebounds and a team-leading 5.7 assists per game while adding 15 steals.
Fellow graduate student
Abby Korzekwinski paces the team in both points and rebounds per game, recording 11.3 and 7.7 a contest, respectively. The 6'1 forward comes off back-to-back double-double performances, averaging 13 points and 11 rebounds in that span. Sophomore forward
Hannah Vanderzee follows, having a breakout second season thus far, averaging about 10 points and five rebounds per game while leading the team in steals with 17. The Ravena, NY native is coming off a career performance, putting up a personal best 22 points off 11-for-17 shooting with five rebounds and four steals against Hamilton.
Colorado College meanwhile is 7-1 going into the weekend with a matchup against Susquehanna University set for 12 p.m. Saturday pacific standard time to open up its time at the D3Hoops Classic.
The Tigers have an efficient offense, which averages about 72 points per game on 44.6 percent shooting, including about 33 percent from 3-point range. They also hold the advantage on the glass, pulling down 41 per game with a plus-9.1 rebounding margin against opponents.
They have three players averaging double-figuring scoring including senior center Zoe Tomlinson (21.6 points, 13.3 rebounds per game), junior combo guard Kayla Mackel (15.5 points, 3.1 rebounds per game) and senior guard/forward Healy Bledsoe (10.8 points, 6.1 rebounds per game). Tomlinson has had a double-double in all but one game for Col College, reaching double-figure points in all eight games, including 20-plus in four with a season-high of 29 against Pacific Lutheran Nov. 30 that went along with a season-high 18 rebounds and four blocks.
The Tigers only loss on the season is against No. 10 nationally ranked Gustavus Adolphus, 78-72, but have rattled off three-straight since, most recently on Dec. 14 against University of St. Thomas.
For live stat and watch links visit the Hawks women's basketball schedule here.
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