New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz closed out its regular season home slate with a series sweep of SUNY Geneseo, which extended its winning streak to 10 games following a 66-59 win on Senior Day.
 
"Something about this group is we're going to find a way to win," said SUNY New Paltz senior guard/forward Brianna Fitzgerald. "We're going to find a way to dominate even if the game is sloppy, even if we're not playing our best, the five on the court, we're going to get together and say, 'ok, we need to find a way to win.' I think at the end of the day, we're a tougher and nastier team than any team we play."
 
The Hawks honored their seven seniors prior to the game in Fitzgerald, Jenny Walton, Julia Sabatino, Madison Mullman, Abby Korzekwinski, Erin Cooney and Semaiah Williams. Each contributed in the win, but it was Fitzgerald who was the catalyst in a tightly contested matchup against the Knights.
 
Coming off a triple double Friday night in a win over Brockport — becoming only the second Hawk to do so, and third ever in program history — Fitzgerald backed up her performance by tallying 30 points and 11 rebounds, three blocks and five steals — all team high's with two assists and only one turnover. The 30-point outing was her third of her career, by far the most by any Hawk and was just a point shy of tying her career-high of 31, while registering her eighth double-double of the season.
 
"With Jenny out [last night], one of the best players in the country, I think every single person on this team felt like they had to step up," Fitzgerald said. "I felt like I was able to do that, knowing that my team had my back and even though Jenny was on the court tonight, you were still able to feel her presence yesterday. You could feel everybody's presence. Overall, I'm just really proud of this team for stepping up this weekend. Not the prettiest weekend, but we were able to get two wins out of it and that's what this team does at the end of the day. We win."
 
The Knights trimmed the deficit to seven going into halftime as they managed a put-back as the buzzer sounded on the first half with SUNY New Paltz leading, 33-26.
 
Geneseo took the momentum into the third quarter, as it got within six two minutes in after Walton knocked down a triple to start the half. Hawks coach Jamie Seward called an early timeout to regroup his team and they responded with a swarming effort defensively. Fitzgerald immediately scored out of the break then came up with a steal with Korzekwinski picking up two points after fighting for an offensive board and getting her put-back to go with seven minutes left in the period to re-up a double-digit lead.
 
"Kind of just staying down on defense throughout the whole game," said Fitzgerald of what they had talked about during the early second half timeout. "We were just kind of lunging at people, letting them go by us but overall, we executed the defensive game plan pretty good and not letting their best players take those shots, and letting their other players do more than they usually have to in a game."  
The Knights got to the foul line on their next possession to trim the difference and picked a pass by Sabatino next time down the floor. Sabatino hustled back to get a block on the transition try, but Geneseo picked up the loose ball and got the put-back to go for an and-1 opportunity. Following back-to-back misses from the field by the Hawks, the Knights pushed the ball up the floor and earned two easy points the other way to get within four. Fitzgerald took the air out of the visiting bench though as she pulled up and drained a straight-on 3 to create a seven-point cushion once again.
 
The make revived the home side, as SUNY New Paltz got going on a 16-6 run. It led by as many as 15 following a swish from 3-point range by Williams off a dish by Gabby Palladino. The Knights worked the score down to 52-41 entering the fourth after a 3-point make and a hit at the foul line in the final minute of the quarter.
 
Morgan Hammell re-established the Hawks' 15-point cushion after hitting from the perimeter off a pass by Walton with about 5:45 left, but Geneseo continued sticking around. The Knights got within six with a minute-plus left, but Fitzgerald iced the game with enough makes at the foul line to close out the final home regular season victory of the 2023-24 season.
 
"That's it, 100 percent — just to finish. We need to go out there and every single game we're not taking anything lightly," she said. "We're not taking any opponents lightly. We're going to go out there every day and attack them and show no mercy."
 
 SUNY New Paltz is back in action Tuesday, taking on Buffalo State on the campus of SUNY Cortland to conclude its season series. The original matchup scheduled for Jan. 13 in Buffalo was postponed due to weather. Tip-off between the two sides is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

Post-Game Featuring Brianna Fitzgerald


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