NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – Using a comfortable 23-point halftime lead, the No. 3 seed State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team knocked out No. 6 seed Buffalo State with a 79-58 win in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Quarterfinals on Tuesday night at the Hawk Center.
 
With the win, the Hawks improve to 18-8 overall and will now play No. 2 seed SUNY Cortland in the SUNYAC Semifinals on Friday, Feb. 27 at 5:30 p.m. at SUNY Geneseo, the top-seeded school. New Paltz wraps up action at the Hawk Center this season on an 11-game winning streak. The Hawks split the regular season series with Cortland and last met the Red Dragons in the 2010 SUNYAC Championship game.
 
Buffalo State sees their season come to an end, finishing with a 12-14 record. This marked the first time these two teams met in the SUNYAC postseason since 1994 when the Bengals defeated New Paltz 83-57.
 
Sophomore forward Courtney Irby (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) had a solid, all-around effort with a game-high 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting, while pulling down seven boards, swatting two shots and recording two steals. Sophomore guard/forward Kit Small (Slingerlands, N.Y./Academy of the Holy Names) tallied 14 points, a team-best nine rebounds and four assists.
 
Junior guard Goldie Harrison (Elmont, N.Y./Elmont Memorial) also scored 14 points and notched six rebounds and three steals. Junior guard/forward Colleen Ames (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) knocked in 10 points off the bench, behind a pair of three-pointers.
 
New Paltz forced 30 turnovers from Buffalo State, including a staggering 20 miscues in the first half alone. The Hawks scored 34 points off turnovers and their bench outscored the Bengals' 26-13.
 
Early on the game was back-and-forth with neither team taking more than a two-point lead until junior guardChristine Rivera (Long Beach, N.Y./Valley Stream) knocked down a three with 14:37 to play, giving New Paltz a five-point lead (14-9).
 
The Hawks built a seven-point edge (22-15) after a lay-in by Harrison with 9:27 to play and went on a 13-4 run over the next five minutes to claim a commanding 35-19 lead after another Harrison bucket.
 
The Hawks remained ahead and built a 21-point lead (42-21) with a little over one minute remaining after another basket by Rivera. Harrison knocked down 3-of-4 free throws in the next few possessions as the Hawks enjoyed a nice 23-point lead at halftime (45-22).
 
The second half started all New Paltz as the Hawks wound up ahead by 29 points (56-27) after Ames hit a pair of free throws at 14:53. The contest remained in favor of the home team until halfway through the period when Buffalo State used a 23-8 run to get within 14 (64-50) with 8:29 to go.
 
But New Paltz proved to be too much for the Bengals to handle, hitting free throws down the stretch and forcing Buffalo State to settle for jump shots for the majority of the night to claim the quarterfinal victory and advance to the SUNYAC Semifinals.
 
For the Bengals, senior forward Ashley Wallace scored a team-high 12 points. Senior guard Olivia Luciani and freshman forward Niasha Houpe scored 11 and 10 points, respectively. Houpe enjoyed a double double, pulling down a game-high 10 rebounds.