PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – Thanks in large part to junior forward Alex McCullough's (Delmar, N.Y./Bethlehem Central) 13-point second half, the State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team (16-8, 14-3 SUNYAC) held off a late charge by host SUNY Plattsburgh (9-13, 6-10 SUNYAC) to win, 79-72, on Tuesday evening in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) play at Memorial Hall.

McCullough, whose 24 points came one point short of matching a career-high, scored the first eight Hawk points of the second half. Her last bucket of that opening stretch broke a 10-0 Cardinal run that threatened to negate a 16-point New Paltz lead. The Hawks led 51-35 with 16:36 remaining in the game, but after McCullough's jumper at 11:54, New Paltz was clinging to a 53-45 lead.

Senior forward Shanay Bradley (Bronx, N.Y./New Explorers) earned a double-double while contributing 14 points and a game-high 13 rebounds to the winning cause. Senior guard Caitlin Irwin (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) added 12 points, five assists and three steals, with junior guard Maliqua Fisher (North Babylon, N.Y./North Babylon) tacking on 11 points, three rebounds and two assists. McCullough finished the contest with three blocks, which pushes her career total to 102. She now stands one block shy of tying the program's career mark of 103, which Dana Maul set from 1992-94.

Kathleen Payne led the Cardinal charge, scoring the majority of her 22 points on the evening from the free-throw line (13-of-15). Payne added 10 rebounds to earn a double-double, which was also achieved by teammate Dana Nucaro (10 points, 10 rebounds). Brittany Marshall scored 16 points to go with six dimes, with Kerri Salisbury rounding out the double-digit scoring attack with 15 points.

The first half of action saw New Paltz open on a 5-0 run courtesy of an old-fashioned three point play by Bradley on the game's first possession, followed by two McCullough free throws. The Hawks pulled away by the midway point of the first half, leading 25-8 with 9:34 to play in the first stanza thanks to a McCullough layup. The Cardinals got as close as seven points in the period, but almost let the game get out of hand by halftime as the Hawks brought a 45-29 lead to the locker room.

McCullough attempted to trade shot-for-shot with Plattsburgh to start the second half, giving the Cardinals the opportunity to chip away at the 16-point halftime deficit. Salisbury nailed a three-pointer with 16:23 to go, opening Plattsburgh's 10-0 run to get back into the game. McCullough stopped the run with a jumper at 11:54 to maintain an eight-point lead, but the Cardinals continued to push. Marshall's layup with 9:23 left made it a one-possession game with a score of 58-55, but Fisher responded with an and-one jumper immediately to push the lead back to six points.

Payne got a three-point play of her own on the next possession to again bring Hawk lead down to three points, but a layup by Bradley with 7:42 remaining gave New Paltz a five-point lead. Irwin and senior guard Zoe Cohen (Brooklyn, N.Y./The Berkeley Carroll School) hit back-to-back treys to protect the lead for good. Payne's final three-pointer with 10 seconds to go got the Cardinals within seven points, 79-72, but that proved to be the final score.

The Hawks had one of their better shooting nights from behind the arc, hitting 7-of-14 to shoot 50 percent, mainly thanks to Irwin's four makes on six attempts. Payne's 13 points from the foul line alone outscored all of New Paltz's free-throw production as the Hawks went 8-of-14 from the charity stripe.

New Paltz finishes regular-season play in the SUNYAC on Friday, Feb. 17, as the Hawks travel to Oneonta, N.Y. to take on SUNY Oneonta at 6 p.m. in a game chock full of implications relating to the seeding of the 2012 SUNYAC Women's Basketball Championship Tournament.