ONEONTA, NY – Hartwick led from start to finish against visiting St. Lawrence in its home opener on Monday night at Lambros Arena. The Hawks, who led by as many as 23 points, came away with a 57-40 win to improve to 5-2 on the season. The victory also increases 'Wick's current win streak to four games. St. Lawrence slips to 3-3 with the loss.
            "This is a big win for our program," stated Hartwick head coach Missy West. "St. Lawrence is a good team and a win like this puts us on the map and shows a lot of people out there that we've got a strong team as well. This was probably our best performance yet defensively."
            Sophomore Kait Veit (Easthampton, MA/Holyoke Catholic), who already owns the Hartwick College record for three-pointers in a game with eight last season, knocked down six triples in the game for a season- and game-high 18 points. She hit all three of her attempts from beyond the arc in the first half to help the Hawks to a big lead at the break.
            Maria Foglia (Rensselaer, NY/Catholic Central HS) scored 11 for 'Wick and Kate Purcell (Buffalo, NY/Mount Mercy Academy) and Carlee Hirt (Beacon, NY/John Jay-E. Fishkill) each netted 10. Hirt also contributed a game-high seven rebounds.
            Eight Saints figured into the scoring column in the game. Maddy Wetterham (Adams, NY/South Jefferson) led the way with nine.      
            Hartwick's smothering defense limited the Saints to just 13 points on 5-of-21 shooting in the opening half which allowed the Hawks to enter halftime with a 15-point lead. The Hawks scored the opening six points and jumped out to a 10-point advantage after 12 minutes on a Lee Arduini (Albany, NY/Acad. of the Holy Names) bucket.
            After two St. Lawrence baskets, the Hawks tallied the next six points before back-to-back treys from Veit made it a 13-point game. Samantha Fox (Hartwick, NY/Cooperstown) capped off the half with a layup for the final points of the opening 20 minutes as 'Wick held a 28-13 advantage.
            The Hartwick lead swelled to 20 points twice in the first two and a half minutes of the second half, but a layup by Katie Edgerton (Shelburne, VT/Champlain Valley Union), a jumper by Erica Spera (Endwell, NY/Maine-Endwell), and a basket by Katie Murray (Falmouth, ME/Milton Academy), however, trimmed the lead to 14 points, 35-21, with 15 minutes to play.
            A 12-3 run from the Hawks in the next six and a half minutes would hand 'Wick its biggest lead of the night, 47-24. Five different Hawks hit shots in the run.
            SLU answered with a 9-2 run of its own with Wetterham contributing five points to make the score 51-38 with less than four minutes remaining, but Veit stopped the bleeding with two straight three's in the next 30 seconds to put the game away.

            Hartwick finished the game hitting 43.8% from the field on 21-of-48 shooting. The Hawks were also 7-of-14 from downtown. SLU hit just under 30% on 16-of-54 shooting and hit four of their 10 shots from three-point range. 'Wick held the edge on the glass, 37-33.

            "Offensively," said West, "We need to hit close to 45% as a team and hit our three-pointers when they are open. We did that tonight."
            Veit hit 6-of-9 from beyond the arc. She added four rebounds and a game-high three steals. Foglia registered a game-high four assists and grabbed six boards, and Purcell contributed five rebounds.
            Wetterhahn shot 4-of-8 from the field for St. Lawrence. She also pulled down four rebounds and picked up two steals. Spera had six boards and three assists for the Saints.

            With the victory, Hartwick improves to 22-14 against St. Lawrence since their first meeting in 1974-75. The win also snaps a five-game winless streak against the Saints dating back to the 1998-99 season.
            The Hawks host city rival Oneonta State on Thursday night at Lambros Arena at 6 p.m.. The Saints are back in action on Saturday at Medaille beginning at 1 p.m.