In tight ball games, it could be that one spurt that makes the difference between a victory and a loss. 
 
For 36 minutes, the Potsdam women's basketball team played with SUNY New Paltz on Bears Pride night at Jerry Welsh Gymnasium on Friday night, but it was a four-minute stretch that gave the Hawks just enough cushion to pull out a 76-66 win over the Bears in a conference contest.
 
The teams split their season series with each team winning on each other's home court.  Potsdam had defeated New Paltz 57-50 back on January 18 behind some clutch foul shooting from junior guard Bailey Weigel (East Amherst, N.Y. / Williamsville East) who made 7-of-8 from the charity stripe down the stretch.
 
Tonight, New Paltz put themselves into an advantageous position when it went on a decisive 12-0 run about the midway point of the first half.
 
During the spurt, sophomore Christina Rivera hit a 3-pointer, Jeanette Scott scored inside, Ashley Riefenhauser and Kit Small each knocked down a pair of free throws and junior Shannon Walker capped it with a 3-pointer to force a Potsdam timeout with the Bears trailing 26-14. 
 
After coach Tara Ruckh timeout's, Potsdam (4-13 overall, 2-8 SUNYAC) answered immediately with a 10-1 run of its own. 
 
Senior forward Jessica Kouzan (Webster, N.Y. / Webster-Schroeder) connected on a 3-pointer from the top of the key, senior guard Hannah Kmiecinski (Webster, N.Y. / Webster-Thomas) followed with 3-point shot from the wing. 
 
After Small made 1-of-2 from the line, junior guard Carli Reynolds (Indian Lake, N.Y. / Indian Lake) made a jumper and Kouzan drove inside for a basket to cap the run. 
 
It got Potsdam within 3 points of the lead, but the teams went back-and-forth for the remaining of the half and the Bears trailed 37-32 at halftime. 

A season-long trend continued for the Bears in the disparity in the amount of free throw attempted with the Hawks (4-14 overall, 2-9 SUNYAC) making 27-of-38 from the line while the Bears shot just 9-of-16 from the stripe. 
 
The Bears would get as close as being down just three points early in the second half after a mini 6-0 run capped by a snazzy up-and-under move by Kouzan made it a 41-38 Hawks' lead with 17:57 left in the game. 
 
New Paltz answered back with a 7-0 run that pushed the lead back up to 11 on a lay up by Courtney Irby and five consecutive points by Rivera. 
 
Rivera shot 7-of-9 from the field including 2-of-2 from downtown to finish with a team-high 21 points.  Walker had 15 points (made 9-of-10 from the line), Small added 14 points (8-of-12 from the line) with nine rebounds and four assists and Irby had 12 points and seven rebounds. 
 
Kouzan notched her second double-double in her last four games by scoring 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting with 10 rebounds.  She also tied a single-game season high with five steals. 
 
Weigel had 11 points and five rebounds before fouling out with under a minute to go in the second half. Reynolds shot 4-of-7 from the field to score 10 points and also grabbed five bounds and had three steals before also fouling out of the game.
 
Kmiecinski finished with eight points with six assists and three steals while Chenice Russell (Moira, N.Y. / Brushton-Moira) had six points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals. 
 
Potsdam will return to action on Saturday against SUNY Oneonta.   Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m.