New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York New Paltz hosted SUNY Potsdam Saturday in the Hawk Center to conclude its regular season series matchup.
The Hawks (14-8 overall, 13-2 SUNYAC) bested the Bears in the first contest on the road by 22-points and on Saturday had a similar result in the Hawk Center, earning a 65-32 victory to grab the series victory.
The win kept SUNY New Paltz within striking distance of the top spot in the conference at 13-2 in the SUNYAC with Cortland leading at 13-1. The two square off next weekend in Cortland with the Hawks owning the first matchup back on Jan. 17. Potsdam, meanwhile, dropped to 5-9 overall and 9-12 in the SUNYAC.
"We definitely struggled on the road these past few weeks, and we needed a good team win," said SUNY New Paltz graduate guard
Julia Sabatino. "We needed to re-focus our offense and pass the ball around. We've been clogging the paint up a lot, so we just needed to get the ball out and play a team game together. I think today that was good specifically, just passing the ball around and a lot of assists from everybody, and that just helps us get going."
The Hawks opened up the game on a 9-0 run before a put-back by Jenna Trotter cut into the stretch.
Sophia Bonnell answered for the hosts on the other end, swishing from 3-point range to give her team their first 10-point advantage of the game.
SUNY New Paltz rode its defense for the rest of the quarter, forcing five straight turnovers. The Hawks couldn't capitalize on the first three with points on the other end, but Sabatino checked back in and immediately put an end to the scoreless draught and capitalized with a left-handed layup in transition to up the lead to 14-4 with less than a minute to go.
Potsdam made just two baskets in the opening 10 minutes and suffered 13 turnovers, as the Hawks held onto a comfortable 15-4 cushion going into the second where they fattened their lead to as many as 23 in the period.
"Our biggest motto is to just stick with it for defense specifically," Sabatino said. "We come out as hard as we can, just pressuring as hard and fast as we can. We can beat teams up pretty well, so just sticking with that and entering a different level of focus with that has been very good for us."
Gallery: (2-8-2025) Women's Basketball vs. Potsdam
Madison Mullman stepped into the lane to take a charge on the Bears' Barbara Bruno. The play led to a good pull-up jumper by
Hannah Vanderzee that extended a SUNY New Paltz run to 20-4. Vanderzee connected again to cap what ended as a 10-0 run before Trotter ended the stretch once again on a make in the paint.
The Hawks started gaining momentum as the quarter waned, as they held a 28-8 lead at the midway point following a smooth jumper by
Karly Wittenbauer which extended the lead to 20. SUNY New Paltz finished the period on a 9-3 run and went into halftime up, 33-11.
SUNY New Paltz saw its lead rise to 30 in the third. Sabatino ended the quarter with an offensive board, and an and-1 in the final seconds to extend the advantage, 53-34 entering the fourth.
The Hawks' bench closed out the 30-plus point victory with
Olivia Ventre, Kamyrn Hoyt and
Grace Cozzens all getting on the board down the stretch to finalize the 65-32 victory.
SUNY New Paltz held Potsdam to less than 28 percent shooting on 12 made baskets, while forcing 35 turnovers, which turned into 21 points for the Hawks.
"We knew they had some ball handlers that struggled a little bit, so we knew we wanted to capitalize with that in the backcourt and just speed them up before they got into their sets," Sabatino said. "You speed a team up in the half court and then they have 20 seconds left to run a play or get set. That's what we pride ourselves in."
Sabatino flirted with another triple double, totaling 10 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in 24 minutes, finishing plus-31 on the stat sheet, along with
Hannah Vanderzee who led all scorers with 14 points. The sophomore added a rebound, two assists, two steals and a game-high four blocks.
Abby Korzekwinski also finished in double-figures, registering 10 points in 14 minutes with five rebounds and three steals.
SUNY New Paltz have three games left of the regular season with one final SUNYAC road weekend, facing Morrisville Friday at 5:30 p.m. before taking on the Red Dragons Saturday at 2 p.m.
"I'm excited," Sabatino added. "This is it for me, so I'm just going to leave it all out there. I'm excited to see how far we're going to go."
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