POTSDAM, N.Y. – After playing from behind for the first 10 minutes of the game, the State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team (14-0, 8-0 SUNYAC) flew past SUNY Potsdam (1-14, 0-8 SUNYAC) to grab a 71-55 victory in Saturday's State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) matchup at Welsh Gym. The win represents yet another perfect weekend for the Hawks, who remain undefeated.
 
Senior guard Maliqua Fisher (North Babylon, N.Y./North Babylon) sank a layup at the 9:31 mark in the first half to give the Hawks their first lead since 2-0. A 10-0 run pushed New Paltz out to a 20-13 lead, and then there was no looking back. Freshman forward Michelle Valle (New York, N.Y./Manhattan Center for Science/Mathematics) succeeded on a pair of free throw attempts at 2:04 to give the Hawks their first double-digit lead at 32-21. Valle later nailed a jumper from outside of the paint to give the Hawks a 37-23 lead, which they took into the intermission.
 
Less than five minutes into the second half, a pair of foul shots by senior forward Alex McCullough (Delmar, N.Y./Bethlehem Central) gave New Paltz its first 20-point lead of the contest. Playing with a considerable lead, the Hawks' younger players saw significant minutes in the second half. Freshman forward Ana Morel (New York, N.Y./IN-Tech Academy 368) scored seven points and pulled down four rebounds in the final nine minutes, while junior guard Pippa Mansdorf (Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y./Hastings) also scored seven points in a season-high 20 minutes.
 
Junior guard Alyssa Gratien (Syracuse, N.Y./Jamesville-DeWitt) led all scorers on the afternoon with 15 points, 12 of which were scored on three-pointers. McCullough added 14 points and four steals, while junior forward Jeanette Scott (West Babylon, N.Y./North Babylon) corralled six rebounds and picked up a season-high 12 points, tying her career-mark.
 
Katy Briedis led the way for the Bears with 14 points. Margaret Wall pulled down a team-high six boards and scored 10 points of her own in the loss. Carli Reynolds came off the bench to score nine points and grab four rebounds.
 
The Hawks got the better of the Bears, shooting 45.6 percent from the field (26-of-57) to 40 percent (22-of-55) for Potsdam. Gratien made all four of the Hawks' threes on the afternoon, as the team shot 4-for-11 (36.4 percent) compared to Potsdam's 30 percent (3-for-10). Neither team was strong from the charity stripe, as the Hawks were successful on 53.6 percent (15-for-28) and the Bears were true on 53.3 percent (8-for-15) of their free throws.
 
The Hawks return to action on Tuesday, Jan. 22, as they host SUNY Oswego in what will likely be one of their toughest games of the season to this point. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. from the Hawk Center.