POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – The State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team nearly pulled off a last-second comeback at cross-river rival Vassar on Wednesday evening but time ran out on the visiting Hawks, as New Paltz fell 57-56 to the Brewers at the Athletic and Fitness Center.

New Paltz trailed by five points with just 15 seconds remaining in regulation before a layup by junior guard Goldie Harrison (Elmont, N.Y./Elmont Memorial) trimmed the deficit to three (55-52) with 11 ticks left. After head coach Jamie Seward called a 30-second timeout, Vassar drew a foul and successfully made both free throw attempts to regain a five-point edge (57-52) with only nine seconds on the clock.

But the Hawks kept fighting as Harrison sunk another layup to get within three (57-54) before a clutch steal on an in-bounds pass by sophomore guard/forward Kit Small (Slingerlands, N.Y./Academy of the Holy Names). Small converted the Brewer turnover into two New Paltz points and trimmed the Vassar advantage down to one (57-56) with 0.5 seconds left. Unfortunately, the Hawks could not cap off the comeback and fell by a single point to their Hudson Valley rival.

New Paltz falls to 1-2 on the year and will look to bounce back in the Courtyard by Marriott Tournament at Wesleyan (Conn.) from Nov. 21-22, starting with Purchase at 8 p.m. on Friday. The Brewers improve to 1-2 and will play at St. Joseph's of Long Island at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Small led the offense with 11 points while grabbing five rebounds and two steals. Junior guard/forward Colleen Ames(Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) and sophomore forward Courtney Irby (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) both finished with eight points as Irby also recorded six boards, two helpers and two blocks. Harrison chipped in seven points and a team-high four assists while freshman forward Norvonee Hall (Brooklyn, N.Y./Murry Bergtraum) led the squad with eight rebounds off the bench. New Paltz forced 31 Vassar turnovers and scored 22 points off of Brewer miscues, including 10 points in the second half.

The Hawks trailed by 14 (22-8) with 9:47 to play in the first half but battled back with a 15-7 run capped off by a pair of Shannan Walker (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) free throws to get within two points (29-27) with a little less than two minutes to go in the opening period. But two field goals by Vassar in the final 30 seconds gave the Brewers a 35-29 lead at intermission.

Just three minutes into the second half, the Hawks trailed by 10 (41-31) and would once again be behind by 14 (45-31) with 13 minutes remaining. But New Paltz responded with a furious 16-2 rally in the next eight minutes to knot the contest at 47 after an Ames field goal.

Foul trouble started to take a toll on Vassar with five players having three or more fouls and several miscues down the stretch allowed New Paltz to nearly pull off the come-from-behind win. Leading the way for Vassar was junior guard Caitlin Drakeley who recorded a double-double with a game-high 21 points and 10 rebounds. Senior guard Allyson Pemberton and junior forward Colleen O'Connell also finished in double figures with 14 and 10 points, respectively.