Hawks Collect Another SUNYAC Championship Title

By Monica D’Ippolito

NEW PALTZ – And, for the very last time, the Hawks are SUNYAC Champions.

In a decade of dominance, the State University of New York New Paltz finalized its last run in the SUNYAC by claiming its eighth conference championship Saturday afternoon in the Hawk Center by avenging last year’s loss and dethroning reigning champs and No. 2 seed Cortland, 56-52.

“Very, very hard to put into words,” said Hawks coach Jamie Seward who has been at the helm for all eight titles in the last 19 seasons. “I’ve been in the SUNYAC a long time and [the SUNYAC trophy] is a nice parting gift to go out with. We’ll leave the league to Cortland. They can go win now because it’s been our league the last decade, so they can go have it now.”

Top seeded SUNY New Paltz overcame an uneven outing in the semifinal round Friday, just pulling away from an upset ready Plattsburgh State team, 39-38 with a complete showing against a top 30 team in the Red Dragons Saturday to take the overall series after splitting the regular season. The Hawks kept Cortland to 2-for-14 from 3-point range and limited two of their top offensive threats in 5’10 guard Jackie Funk and 6’2 forward Joleen Lusk to a combined 16 points on six made baskets, while forcing 20 Red Dragon turnovers in the game.

Kaeli McAnally, who led the team with 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting on the night, gave Cortland a 12-10 lead entering the second quarter on a turnaround jumper as time expired. The Red Dragons held onto the lead until Karly Wittenbauer ignited an 8-0 run to end the half. Hannah Vanderzee re-took the advantage for the Hawks following a defensive stand with Vanderzee scoring again on a find from Brianna Fitzgerald a minute later. Fitzgerald added two more in the final 90 seconds on two makes from the foul line before winning the ball back on a steal where she pushed up the floor to find Sierra Carter on a fast-break bucket to create a 26-19 cushion at the break.

The momentum carried into the second half and although Cortland hovered around a one-possession game, SUNY New Paltz never let the Red Dragons back in.

Fitzgerald matched an and-1 from McAnally with an and-1 on the other side of the floor to keep SUNY New Paltz’s six-point advantage. Fitzgerald got her hands on a steal in the last three minutes with Vanderzee the beneficiary, scoring two on a dish from Wittenbauer to create a nine-point margin. Fitzgerald re-upped that nine-point difference a minute later on two made free throws, but the Red Dragons brought the score down to 39-34 with less than a minute to go. However, Macie Perry made sure to add one last bucket for the Hawks before the fourth, making a nice move on the block to get her hook shot to go to push the score to 41-34.

Perry came through with an offensive board off her own miss to begin the fourth, which led to a 3-pointer from Fitzgerald to lift the home crowd. The two teams went back-and-forth after Cortland trimmed the score to two on a Lusk made jumper, as Fitzgerald answered with a pull up jump shot on the other end. Brooke Tillotson added two from the foul line to work the score, 50-48 with three minutes left, but Vanderzee immediately capitalized offensively to build back a two-possession advantage.

SUNY New Paltz anchored down and got back-to-back stops defensively with Perry, Wittenbauer and Carter each pulling down defensive boards to make sure the Red Dragons were kept at a one-and-done offensive set.

Tillotson earned another trip to the foul line to cut the score, 53-50 with 31.5 seconds left. After a made foul shot from Wittenbauer, McAnally drove to the hoop and finished to trim the lead, 54-52 with about 19 seconds to go. Cortland began to intentionally foul to try and slow down the game with Fitzgerald hitting 1-of-2 from the line and pushing the Hawks up by three.

The Red Dragons had the chance to hold for the final possession of regulation with about 19 seconds running and no timeouts left. The Hawk Center crowd livened as Cortland brought the ball up the floor and the raucous gym began counting down the clock early, seemingly rushing the last shot by Funk who heaved up a 3-point attempt that went off the mark. Wittenbauer secured the board and with six seconds left was put back on the line. She made just one more, all the Hawks needed, to ice the win and the SUNYAC title.
“Insane atmosphere to play in,” Wittenbauer said.

Wittenbauer finished with nine points, five boards, two assists and two steals in 35 minutes and was named All-Tournament team, alongside Vanderzee who was the team’s second leading scorer behind Fitzgerald. The junior was huge on both side of the floor, connecting on 7-for-11 from the field and providing an assist, a block and a steal with 14 points. Fitzgerald, the SUNYAC Tournament MVP for the third time in her career, led the game with 21 points, six rebounds, four assists, three blocks and four steals.

The championship victory also guaranteed the Hawks a spot in the national tournament for the ninth time in program history, including the fourth in the last five years.