NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – The State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team bounced back from an early technical foul to defeat SUNY Geneseo, 55-41, on Friday evening in the Hawk Center.
 
The Hawks improve to 17-5, 12-3 and return to the Hawk Center tomorrow at 2 p.m. to take on The College at Brockport on Senior Day. The Knights drop to 15-6, 10-4 and will travel to play the Red Dragons of SUNY Oneonta tomorrow at 2 p.m.
 
After a full three minutes of neither team hitting their mark, the Knights jumped ahead to a 4-0 lead. The Hawks quickly responded as sophomore guard Jasmine Bryant (Elmont, N.Y./St. Mary's College Prep) drained a 3-pointer to land New Paltz on the scoreboard before sophomore guard/forward Laura Stuart (Levittown, N.Y./Division Avenue) pushed the Hawks ahead on a pair of free-throws. New Paltz extended its lead further on an 8-2 spurt, capping off the first quarter with a 13-9 edge.
 
The Hawks were hot out of the gates in the second period, commanding a 23-6 gap halfway through the quarter. Although a pair of 3-pointers by junior guard Kara Houppert placed the Knights 27-13 behind New Paltz, sophomore guard Sydney Pinn (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) drove down the lane on a fast-break play to make a last second layup, handing the Hawks a 29-13 lead at intermission.
 
Coming out of the break, New Paltz continued to push the pace but Geneseo started slowly closing the gap. Both teams traded points in the early minutes of the final period before Houppert launched a jumper to trim the deficit to 53-39. Stuart knocked in a layup to cap off scoring for the Hawks with 3:55 remaining. Despite junior guard Katie Durand sinking a jump shot at the 1:43 mark to rope the score to 14, the Knights were unable to find another scoring opportunity as the clock ran down and secured the Hawks eighth-straight win.
 
New Paltz ended the night with a 37.5 field goal percentage (21-of-56) while scoring 21 points off turnovers and notching 23 bench points. Geneseo shot 25 percent (14-of-56) from the floor but held a 42-33 margin in rebounds while hitting a 91.7 free-throw percentage (11-of-12). 
 
Leading the Hawks was junior guard/forward Kit Small (Slingerlands, N.Y./Academy of the Holy Names) who posted 14 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Small hit 2-of-2 shots from the line and 2-of-3 shots from the 3-point range. Stuart connected on 5-of-7 shots from the field to record 12 points while Pinn tallied 11 points and launched 3-of-6 shots from beyond the arc.
 
For Geneseo, Houppert led with 10 points while Durand, senior guard Dana Cohan, and freshman forward McKenna Brooks chipped in six points apiece. Senior forward Allison McKenna also tallied six points in the loss and recorded a team-high 14 boards.