WAYNE, N.J. – Despite outscoring fourth-ranked William Paterson University (4-0), 40-30, in the second half, the State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team (0-4) fell, 74-63, to the Pioneers on Tuesday night at the Recreation Center in non-conference action.

Neither team took good care of the ball, as the two squads combined for 61 turnovers: New Paltz committed 33 of them, while William Paterson accounted for 28. The Pioneer wreaked havoc on the Hawks in the post, boasting 11 blocked shots. The home team also held the edge in rebounds by a 47-42 edge. New Paltz shot 36.7 percent (22-of-60) from the floor during the game compared to William Paterson's 40.6 percent (28-of-69) clip.

Freshman point guard Shannan Walker (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) paced the Hawks with a season-high 16 points off 5-of-12 shooting from the floor and 5-of-5 shooting from the free-throw line. Senior point guard Kaitlin Clifford (Staten Island, N.Y./Curtis) exceled on both ends of the floor, registering 10 points and a game-high six steals to go along with three assists. Senior guards Zoe Cohen (Brooklyn, N.Y./The Berkeley Carroll School) and Caitlin Irwin (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) each tied for the team-high in rebounds with seven each.

For William Paterson, April Smith led all scorers with 22 points, which she achieved off 10-of-14 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 shooting from the line, and added 11 rebounds to complete the double-double. Floriana Borova and BriAnna Lucas also reached double figures with 19 and 14 points, respectively. Defensively, Smith had a game-high five blocks, while Borova gathered a team-high four steals.

The game got ugly early on, as the Pioneers hopped out to a 29-6 lead in the first 10:47 of action. William Paterson led by as many as 27 in the half, as Borova's layup at 2:46 of the first half put the Pioneers on top, 40-13. New Paltz, however, crept back into the contest, as it assembled a 6-0 run that saw Clifford score four points. After Cohen scored with 25 seconds remaining in the half, each team turned the ball over once before Borova drained a layup at the buzzer, giving the host Pioneers a 44-23 halftime lead.

The first seven minutes of the second half indicated that the final 20 minutes would resemble the opening stanza, as the two teams traded points before William Paterson opened up a 28-point lead—its largest of the evening—possessing a 61-33 advantage with 13:34 to go in regulation. New Paltz woke up from its offensive slumber, knocking down shot after shot, and it went on an 11-0 run that was capped by a senior guard/forward Bridget Grover (Rockville Centre, N.Y./Holy Trinity) jumper at 8:39 of the second half, which whittled the deficit down to 17 at 61-44. After the Hawks brought the margin to 13, the Pioneers went on a 5-0 run, but New Paltz called a 30-second timeout with 3:37 to go in the game to regroup.

Coming out of the timeout, the Hawks were competitive the rest of the way, limiting the Pioneers to just five points the remainder of the night. Walker pulled the Hawks within 10 off a three-pointer with 10 seconds left in the second half, which was the closest New Paltz had gotten to William Paterson since 16:38 of the first half.

New Paltz is off this weekend before squaring off with the Stevens Institute of Technology in its 2011-12 home opener on Tuesday, Nov. 29, at 7 p.m. at the Hawk Center.