The State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team was honored Wednesday by the SUNYAC, as three Hawks were named to the annual All SUNYAC squad, along with Coaching Staff of the Year and Player of the Year honors.

For the third consecutive year, SUNY New Paltz earned three selections to the all-conference squad. And for the second straight year Briana Fitzgerald was named SUNYAC Player of the Year and head coach Jamie Seward and assistant coaches Darren Jackson and Maddie Van Pelt were named the SUNYAC Coaching Staff of the Year.

To view the full 2024 All SUNYAC Women's Basketball team, click here.

Fielding one of the smallest squads yet perhaps the most experienced and close-knit teams in the SUNYAC in 2024, the Hawks posted their fifth 20-plus win season in a row, while losing a program record low of three games and finishing first in SUNYAC with a 17-1 mark. The regular season was highlighted by wins over three ranked teams, most notably over then No. 2 nationally ranked Christopher Newport University, handing the Captains their only loss in the 2024 season. Prior to the SUNYAC tournament, the Hawks had reeled off 14 consecutive wins to finish out the 2024 season.

With a lineup that featured nine players who had been teammates for three years, SUNY New Paltz earned three All SUNYAC selections in Fitzgerald, earning her second consecutive Player of the Year honors, joining first team selection Jenny Walton and third team Abby Korzekwinski.

"I think the special thing and really unique part of really the entire group of players that we have, but these three all-conference players in spades — they play offense, they play defense, and they do everything in between too and they do it in different ways," Seward said. "They can rebound, they can score on the perimeter, they can score in the post, they can score driving the ball, score in transition, they can guard permitter players, they can trap, and they can block shots and all of them do a little bit of everything and some of them do a lot of everything. When you put a lot of those kinds of players together there's no surprise that we've had the kind of success that we've had this year in my opinion the three best players in our league."
 
Continue reading to view all three of SUNY New Paltz's 2024 All-SUNYAC selections:

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Player of the Year/First-Team All-SUNYAC

Brianna Fitzgerald (senior/guard/forward)
Dix Hills, NY/Island Trees HS

Without question the finest women's basketball player ever to wear the orange and blue and SUNYAC's most dominant force in the past two seasons, Fitzgerald, a 2023 WBCA and D3hoops All-American, becomes the first player in program history, and only the seventh in SUNYAC history, to earn consecutive Player of the Year honors.

Fitzgerald also became the first Hawk to ever collect three straight First-Team All-SUNYAC selections, in addition to being named SUNYAC Rookie of the Year and WBCA Region III Rookie of the Year. Fitzgerald also earned a conference record five SUNYAC Women's Basketball Athlete of the Week honors in 2024.

"It's pretty crazy to think how much she's gotten better when you think how good she was last year or her freshman year," Seward said. "The biggest thing she has improved upon is how to attack a game within a game. Knowing what we need and how [she] can best contribute to that because she does quite literally everything on the basketball court. She has the unique ability to contribute in so many different ways and when you have the intelligence to step back and recognize how to utilize those versatile, unique skillsets she has it just makes her the best player and easiest player of the year vote in maybe SUNYAC history."

Fitzgerald, who started in 25 of 26 regular season games, leads the Hawks for the second consecutive year in virtually every statistical categories: points scored (522), points per game (19.3), rebounds (219), rebounds per game (8.3), steals (86), steals per game (3.2), blocks (39), field goals made/attempted (188/459), free throws made/attempted (131/166), minutes played (897) and minutes per game (33.2). She is also second in assists with 93 — averaging 3.2 per game.

Fitzgerald scored double figures in every game she played in, including 11 double-doubles — the last two in both SUNYAC postseason games — and one triple-double, just the third ever in program history. She totaled eight 20-plus point games and three 30-plus point games, scoring 31 and 27 points respectively against two nationally ranked squads, Vassar College and Christopher Newport University. Fitzgerald ended the season by breaking both the single season point total (522), and in just three seasons, the career point total (1,357) with NCAA games yet to play.

"She's had to play a lot minutes and like this past weekend, can play 40 minutes on Friday and then go 39 and change on Saturday and not miss anything," said Seward. "Her mental and emotional stamina, her physical stamina is remarkable too, but her ability to just relentlessly stay with whatever is going on, whether it's hustling back on defense or diving on a ball, she's just completely relentless and like I said, it takes completely amazing emotional and mental stamina to do that."

In SUNYAC play, Fitzgerald started 17 of 18 games, averaging a conference leading 19.5 points per game. She stands 16th in rebounds with 209; fifth in blocks with nearly two per game; first in steals with 3.2 per game, fourth in assists with 1.4 per game, and third in total minutes played with 587 for 32.6 minutes per game. She scored six double doubles and one triple-double in regular season SUNYAC play. She scored a regular season high of 31 points against Geneseo (2/3/2)4, 15 rebounds vs Cortland (1/23/24), 10 assists vs Brockport (2/2/24), six steals vs Oswego (1/16/24) and 13 made free throws against Geneseo (2/3/24). In the SUNYAC Tournament semifinal against Oswego, Fitzgerald hit for a career high of 35 points and played all 40 minutes to lead the Hawks to the tournament final.

In that championship matchup, she scored a team-high 16 points, while grabbing 10 rebounds with two blocks, two steals and an assist en route to being named the easy choice of Tournament MVP. She made a crucial steal with an easy fast-break basket at the end of the half to give her team momentum after the Knights brought the difference to six. She then scored seven of her points in the fourth quarter with Geneseo sticking around late, but like she had all year and really, throughout her career, Fitzgerald stepped up the most in the game's biggest moments.

"The play at the end of Geneseo might be the most remarkable play. The understanding and where withal and just guts and confidence to recognize that we had a big lead that we kind of squandered away and she said, 'I looked at the scoreboard and we should be up more than this right now.' So, she switched onto her point guard, picked her pocket and scored to give us the momentum back going into the half," Seward said. "I just was just shaking my head in amazement, and she just gave me a wink, like I got this don't worry. I was thinking the same thing, and I wasn't going to let that happen. But yeah, when the moment in the game calls for somebody to step up, she seems to know."


First-Team All-SUNYAC 

Jenny Walton (senior, guard)
Glenwood Landing, NY/North Shore Sr. HS

After a career changing junior season, where she earned All-SUNYAC Third Team honors, Jenny Walton broke the ceiling in 2024, earning her first, First Team All SUNYAC honors, proving to all that SUNY New Paltz was not just a single player team.

Starting 25 of 26 regular season games, Walton dominated at both ends of the court. She was second in scoring with 389 points, for a 15 points per game mark. She led the team in 3-point shooting, hitting on 69 attempts, scoring 207 of her points from behind the line. She stands fourth in rebounds with 133, third in steals with 54, fourth in assists with 49 and third in total minutes played with 774. She had 18 doubles-doubles on the season, with five 20-plus point games and one 30-plus point games. She hit a season and team high of seven 3-pointers against New Jersey City University (11/25/23) and against nationally ranked Vassar College and Christopher Newport University, she scored 17 and 21 points respectively, establishing herself as one of the best players in the country.

"I really think Jenny gets overlooked a lot because of Bri. We think Bri is the best player in the country. We believe it strongly. She certainly is one of the best players in country. She's the best to ever play here and when you have someone like that on your team it's hard to stand out and if Bri wasn't here, then Jenny would be the conference player of the year and I think she's arguably the second-best player we've ever had in the program," Seward said. "She just happens to play alongside the best player we've ever had in the program. But the thing that makes them fit so well together is that Bri is so unselfish and willing to facilitate. If Jenny is hot, she'll let Jenny shoot the ball all day and won't take a shot, but it's also Jenny thinking that she is the Alpha. Jenny isn't the Beta to Bri's Alpha. Jenny is an Alpha and Bri is also an Alpha and so, when you have two Alpha scorers especially it makes it really hard for the defense." 
 
In SUNYAC action, Walton started 16 of 17 games played, playing 483 minutes for a 28.4 minutes per game average. She scored 260 points for an average of 15.3 points per game, hit for a team-high 45 3-point field goals, and contributed 89 rebounds. She scored a career high 34 points against Brockport (12/2/23) on 14-for-33 shooting; she had a season high of nine rebounds vs Fredonia (1/12/24) and seven steals vs Oswego 1/16/24).

"Jenny is super, super intelligent. She's one who is able to recognize things that she didn't do or things that she can do to exploit things happening in the game and take advantage of that, and you just saw that grow this year," Seward said. "She's learned little subtleties that really speaks to her as a person to be able to take that on the court and do it physically and I think that has a lot to do with her growth, but she's just a really talented player. She always was. She can score and has an incredible knack for putting the ball in the basket and she's expanded her game, going to her weak hand more consistently, but I think she just has really grown in all areas in her game, so she wasn't just an offensive specialist. Last year she became a true two-way player, and she showed that all year this year."


Third-Team All-SUNYAC

Abby Korzekwinski (senior/forward)
Shoreham, NY/Shoreham-Wading River HS

Abby Korzekwinski continued her solid steady play at forward after a sterling junior year, and this year earned her first All-SUNYAC recognition as the Third-Team All-SUNYAC select.

Korzekwinski started all 27 games for the Hawks, playing 639 minutes, fifth most on the team. She stands third in scoring, having a .502 shooting percentage, hitting for 234 points and an 8.9 points per game average. She was third in total rebounds with 151, fourth in steals with 33 and fifth in assists with 24. In non-conference competition she had game highs of 16 vs Ithaca College (12/9/23) and 12 vs New Jersey City University (11/25/23). She pulled down 11 rebounds in two consecutive games, vs Christopher Newport University (12/29/23) and Middlebury College (12/30/23). She recorded a season high three steals vs Mt. St. Mary College (11/21/23).

"She's had some big scoring games, some double doubles, but similar to the other two, she's a tremendous two-way player," Seward said. "She's the most versatile, defensive big kid I think that I've ever coached. She can guard perimeter players. She is our third or fourth-best perimeter defender and that allows us to play however we want together because Abby can guard whoever she wants."

Against SUNYAC opponents, Korzekwinski started all 18 games, with 394 minutes of playing time, fifth most on the team. She hit on 73-for-138 field goals for a .529 field goal average, scoring 162 points, third on the team. Her 91 rebounds are third on the team; she was also fifth in assists with 13. She scored double figures in eight games, with a high of 18 vs Fredonia (1/12/24) and a double-double against Brockport (12/2/23) with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

"Some her greatest strengths as a basketball player is how she fits in playing with other players," Seward added. "She can fit in with big time scorers, she can fit in with guards, she can be a perimeter player when you have a bunch bigs. She is so good at fitting it that sometimes it's to her detriment. She just tries to fit in and just blends in because she's so good at it. She's just a standout talent and standout player, and that's been my biggest gripe with her is that I want you to stand out more and not fit in as much. I think her getting this accolade and being recognized as one of the top 15 players in the conference forces her to stand out and is really big because she deserves it. She works so hard and is such a conscientious teammate and player.


SUNYAC Coaching Staff of the Year
Coach Jamie Seward, Assistant Coaches Darren Jackson & Maddie Van Pelt

For 17 years now, head coach Jamie Seward has continued to live up to the vision he had for SUNY New Paltz women's basketball when first hired. And with the addition of assistant coach Darren Jackson 12 seasons ago, and now joined by Hawks great Maddie Van Pelt '20, SUNY New Paltz women's basketball continues to set new records.

For the second consecutive year the SUNY New Paltz women's coaching staff has been named SUNYAC Women's Basketball Coaching Staff of the Year. Coaches Jamie Seward, Darren Jackson and Maddie Van Pelt '20, guided the Hawks to an 17-1 SUNYAC record, earning the tops seed in the SUNYAC Tournament, where they entered their fifth straight SUNYAC finals appearance, winning their seventh SUNYAC championship and their eighth trip to the NCAA DIII tournament.

Since coaches Seward and Jackson first paired up for the 2012-13 season, the Hawks have had an impressive 155-43 SUNYAC record, have appeared in the SUNYAC Tournament nine times, placed in the semifinal round nine times and won the SUNYAC championship seven times. Prior to the introduction of the SUNYAC Coaching Staff of the Year in 2019-20, coach Jamie Seward had earned SUNYAC Coach of the Year honors in 2012-13 and 2018-19. With over 300 career victories over 17 seasons, Seward is the winningest coach among active SUNYAC coaches, with seven conference titles, also most among active coaches and is just 81 wins away from becoming the all-time women's basketball winning coach in SUNYAC history.


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