SUNY New Paltz Hawks Fall 57-53 at SUNY Oswego

By Colleen Gonzalez

OSWEGO – The State University of New York at New Paltz women’s basketball team fell 57-53 to host and State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) opponent SUNY Oswego on Saturday afternoon.
The Hawks move to 5-6, 2-4 SUNYAC and look for their first win of the year when they travel to Ithaca College on Tuesday, Jan. 10 for a 6 p.m. matchup. Oswego improves to 4-8, 2-4 SUNYAC and moves on to host Cazenovia College on Tuesday, Jan. 10 at 4 p.m.
The Lakers were the first to land on the scoreboard in the opening quarter, pushing a 6-0 run but New Paltz would tie up the score at the 5:08 mark as senior guard/forward Morgan Roessler completed a three-point play. Senior guard/forward Kit Small and freshman guard Marion Dietz each sank a 3-point shot to kick off a 13-9 run that pushed the Hawks ahead, 19-15.
New Paltz continued to hold the lead throughout the second period, extending the lead to 29-19, but Oswego began to chip away the Hawks’ advantage, slicing the deficit to 31-30 with 28 seconds left but a final 3-point shot by freshman guard Sandi Harris gave the Hawks a 34-30 cushion at intermission.
Coming out of the break, Oswego quickly closed the gap before taking hold of the lead, pushing their advantage to nine (47-38). The Hawks managed to trim the deficit to 47-41 as time ran out in the third period before leveling the score to 47-all at the 7:21 mark in the final quarter off a layup by Small. As the clock ran down, both teams kept the score close but eventually the Lakers would break away with the final 57-53 tally to take home the win.
New Paltz and Oswego each pulled down 45 rebounds for the game but the Hawks converted 15 points off turnovers, scored 12 points off the bench and tallied 20 second chance points.
Roessler paced the New Paltz offense with 15 points while shooting 6-of-11 from the field. Small recorded her second double-double of the season with 11 points and a team-high 11 rebounds and chipped in two assists.
For Oswego, three different players scored double points with senior forward Heather Hebert leading the way with 20 points and pulling down 11 rebounds while junior guard Courtney Ameele and sophomore forward Rachel Windhausen tallied 10 points apiece.