NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – Senior guards Kahsyrah Bryant (North Babylon, N.Y./North Babylon) and Maliqua Fisher (North Babylon, N.Y./North Babylon) each picked up a double-double to lead the State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team (18-2, 12-1 SUNYAC) past SUNY Plattsburgh (9-11, 5-8 SUNYAC), 72-60, in a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) showdown at the Hawk Center on Saturday. With their 18th win, the Hawks match their 2011-12 season total.
 
Bryant scored a game-high 17 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. Fisher grabbed a game-high 14 boards, matching her career-best, while adding 12 points for her second double-double this year and sixth of her career.
 
Down by one at the half, the Hawks opened the second stanza on an 8-0 run, which eventually stretched out to 18-4, giving the Hawks a 46-33 lead at the 12:05 mark. A 9-0 run later in the half stretched the Hawk lead to 22 points, but the Cardinals fought back, cutting the lead to 10 on Dana Nucaro's three with 3:19 to go. The Hawks did not allow the Cardinals to get any closer, walking away with a 12-point victory in the battle of the birds.
 
The Hawks turned the ball over 10 times in the first half, and were outscored in bench scoring, 21-10, leading to a 29-28 advantage for the Cardinals at the intermission. The Hawks led by as many as five in the first couple minutes of the game, but played from behind for much of the period.
 
Junior guard Alyssa Gratien (Syracuse, N.Y./Jamesville-DeWitt) had her second-straight double-digit scoring affair, picking up 11 points in the win. Freshman guard Goldie Harrison (Elmont, N.Y./Elmont Memorial) netted a career-high nine points.
 
Kathleen Payne led the Cardinals with 15 points on the afternoon, all coming off the bench. Devona Paul followed with 10 points, while Nucaro led the team with nine boards.
 
The Hawks had their best free-throw shooting day of the season, succeeding on 23-of-27 (85.2 percent) attempts. Plattsburgh shot just 44 percent from the charity stripe on 11-of-25 shooting. The Cardinals shot better from the field, making 36.1 percent (22-of-61) of their shots to the Hawks' 33.3 percent (22-of-66). Each team made five three-pointers on the afternoon.
 
The Hawks look to push their SUNYAC winning streak to four on Tuesday, Feb. 5, as they try to earn the season sweep against SUNY Oswego. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. from Max Ziel Gymnasium.