New Paltz, NY — A rare and historic feat was achieved in the Hawk Center Friday night by none other than two-time All-American
Brianna Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald, who already notched a triple double in a legendary career at SUNY New Paltz, recorded one of the scarcest statistical achievements in basketball — a quadruple double.
She finished an illustrious performance in an 85-41 rout of Potsdam with 15 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists and 11 steals for the first ever quadruple double in Hawks history and the first in Division III since Nyasha Howard of CUNY John Jay in 2020. In the history of the NCAA there have been less than 20 ever recorded by men or women at the Division I, II and III levels.
"It's a dream come true and that was the whole point of coming back this season, just to continue to have fun, continue on with an already great career and keep adding some stuff to the resume," Fitzgerald said following the dominant win over the Bears. "It's just so amazing I was able to do this with this team."
Fitzgerald made the uncommon feat look easy against the 3-12 (overall) and 2-6 (SUNYAC) Bears Friday night, as she went into halftime touting 11 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and seven steals. With 2:47 left in the third she earned her 10 the steal of the game to cement her second triple-double of her career, joining 1999 alumna Jasime Sanchez as the only two players to record two triple-double's in Hawks history. Fitzgerald then truly cemented herself in NCAA Basketball record books as her final assist with 1:33 left to
Karly Wittenbauer cutting through the lane notched her 10th assist to officially reach double figures in four different categories — arguably one of the rarest statistical occurrences in all of sports — in just 27 minutes of action.
Gallery: (1-23-2026) Women's Basketball vs. Potsdam
"We make jokes all the time in practice we need to help each other with assists, we need to move the ball and it's just great to see these girls taking so much pride in being a part of it with me and they are such a big reason of why I'm able to achieve these things and those things never go unnoticed with me," said Fitzgerald. "This is such a great group. Despite how young we are, we really are a close-knit group and I'm loving every second of it. I'm so happy to have come back and having some NCAA history is just icing on the cake. It's really amazing."
The performance comes in the midst of what looks like another All-American campaign for the sixth year, who sat all of 2025 after tearing her ACL during the preseason. Working her way back to play one last season for the Hawks, Fitzgerald is having her best season to-date, which says a lot following a 2024 season where she broke numerous career and single-season program records en route to being a two-time All-American and Jostens Trophy Finalist, as she leads the league in points (292), points per game (18.3) and steals (53) along with being top-five in rebounds (131) and rebounds per game (8.2).
She continued the trend Friday night, filling up the stat sheet to help SUNY New Paltz quickly get out to a 28-9 first-half advantage. Fitzgerald assisted on back-to-back makes for the Hawks to establish their first double-digit lead midway through the opening period, as freshmen
Summer Perry and
Kayden Cornell connected on their attempts.
Deanna Barry ended the quarter with an exclamation point, as she swished from the perimeter off a feed from
Sierra Carter to balloon the cushion to 19 entering the second.
Fitzgerald scored in the paint following a turnover by the Bears a minute into the period, finishing on a feed by
Hannah Vanderzee to give her team their first 20-point lead of the game, which they sustained until the end of the half where they were up, 42-20.
The third quarter was dominant for SUNY New Paltz, holding Potsdam to just seven points in the 10 minutes on three made shots while forcing eight turnovers. Fitzgerald helped on the turnover differential, tallying four of her steals in the period to aid in the 43-point advantage to end the quarter thanks to an and-1 in the waning seconds by Wittenbauer.
The Hawks full roster stepped on the floor, and all contributed to the rout. Nine players registered at least four points with five in double-figure points. Wittenbauer had a game-high 17 on 7-for-13 shooting in just 14 minutes, while adding three rebounds. Vanderzee shot 5-for-10 in 17 minutes and had 12 points, four rebounds, two assists, a block and two steals, while Barry and Cornell totaled 11 and 10 points off the bench, respectively, with the latter adding five boards and two assists.
"That's the great thing about having 10 players. All of us are always giving 100 percent at practice every single day, so it's just amazing to see all their hard work really pay off, and that's the great thing about this team," Fitzgerald said. "Everybody is super versatile playmakers, and you see it in the games. It's great to see everybody getting their chance to play, because we have a lot of talent on this team. As an older player and a leader on this team, it's so amazing to see some of those younger girls show off their skillset and their talent and show how great they are."
SUNY New Paltz improved to 14-2 overall and 8-1 in the SUNYAC as it easily extended its winning streak to six games. During that stretch, the Hawks have out-scored opponents 422-285, while keeping their opposition to less than 48 points per game with their last two victories over Canton and Potsdam 20-plus victories.
SUNY New Paltz continues SUNYAC play at home Saturday in the Hawk Center, hosting Plattsburgh at 2 p.m. before it officially begins the second half of its home-and-home season against each of its other conference foes. The Hawks' only SUNYAC loss has come from reigning SUNYAC champion SUNY Cortland, which they will see again next weekend with the No. 1 seed still in play.
"We love the second half of the season, being able to see everybody again," Fitzgerald said. "It's really hard for teams to get better in the second half of the year and I really just see it every day with this group. We have so many girls who want to learn and show up excited to play. That's been one of the best parts of being one of the older girls on this team, getting the opportunity to teach them and be such a part of their basketball careers and setting them up for the years after I leave. I 100 percent believe this is a championship team and that we will win the championship. I'm so excited to continue with this group."
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