NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – The State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team enjoyed an undefeated conference weekend by defeating Geneseo 57-47 on Saturday afternoon in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) action at the Hawk Center.
 
With the win, the Hawks move above .500 at 6-5, 3-2 SUNYAC and close out their brief three-game homestand on Tuesday, Jan. 13 against Trinity (Conn.) at 7 p.m. Geneseo, meanwhile, moves to 6-4, 2-1 SUNYAC and hosts conference opponent Cortland on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
 
New Paltz handed the Knights their first league loss of the season thanks to senior guard Shannan Walker (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) and junior guard Goldie Harrison (Elmont, N.Y./Elmont Memorial) who led the offense with 14 and 11 points, respectively. Walker made a trio of long distance shots and chipped in three steals defensively while Harrison pulled down seven boards from the backcourt.
 
Sophomore forward Courtney Irby (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds and classmate guard/forward Kit Small (Slingerlands, N.Y./Academy of the Holy Names) distributed a team-best three assists while chipping in seven boards. The Hawks forced 24 Geneseo turnovers and scored 14 points off those miscues as New Paltz limited the Knights to just one three-pointer all game (1-of-12; 8.3 percent).
 
For the second day in a row, New Paltz trailed 4-0 early on but quickly recovered and grabbed a three-point lead after a three by Walker at 15:41. A Harrison layup in the paint increased the Hawk lead to seven as the team went on an 11-0 run after falling behind to start.
 
The Knights bounced back and trimmed the lead down to four (14-10) before New Paltz would go on another spurt and grab a 24-15 lead after a Jasmine Bryant (Elmont, N.Y./St. Mary's College Prep) three pointer. Freshman guard Sydney Pinn (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) registered a shot from downtown followed by a bucket in the paint by junior guard/forward Colleen Ames (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) to give the Hawks a 10-point cushion with just 1:12 to go in the opening stanza.
 
New Paltz led the entire second half and went ahead by 13 points after another Ames layup in the paint with 15:08 remaining. Geneseo remained pesky however and trimmed the Hawk advantage to just six points (49-43) with 4:28 left on the clock. Trying to play catch-up, the Knights were forced to foul down the stretch but the Hawks made them pay as Irby and Walker made four free throws to ice the conference win.