NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – The top-seeded State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team (21-6) clinched its second State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) title in program history by defeating No. 2 seed SUNY Geneseo (20-7), 65-52, in the SUNYAC Women's Basketball Tournament final on Saturday afternoon in the Hawk Center.
 
In securing the SUNYAC title, the Hawks receive the SUNYAC's automatic qualifier into the 2016 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament. This will be the Hawks' second appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
 
Senior guard Goldie Harrison (Elmont, N.Y./Elmont Memorial) received the tournament's Most Valuable Player honors after netting 18 points in the championship game. Earning spots on the All-Tournament team were junior guard/forward Kit Small (Slingerlands, N.Y./Academy of the Holy Names) and junior forward Courtney Irby(Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale). Rounding out the All-Tournament team were senior forward Allison McKenna and junior forward Katie Vienneau from Geneseo.
 
Despite Geneseo grabbing the first couple of points to start off the game, the Hawks quickly jumped ahead, 5-2, as a jumper by Harrison and a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Jasmine Bryant (Elmont, N.Y./St. Mary's College Prep) at the 8:02 mark. The Knights did not go away as a pair of free throws from junior guard Kayleigh Cavanaugh and a three from junior guard Bridgit Ryan handed Geneseo a brief 9-8 lead. But the Hawks surged ahead on a 5-3 run to hold a14-12 edge heading into the second quarter.
 
The Knights would find limited scoring opportunities against a strong New Paltz defense in the second period as the Hawks pushed a 12-4 run to capture a 28-20 advantage at the intermission.  
 
The Hawks grabbed their largest lead of the night, 43-26, on a Harrison free throw at the 2:53 mark in the third quarter. Geneseo cut the Hawks' advantage to 43-32 as the Knights capitalized on back-to-back free throw shots by Vienneau, but Small put away a layup to hand New Paltz a 45-32 edge in the final stretch.
 
Harrison converted 11-of-13 shots from the line in the fourth quarter to push the Hawks to a 64-51 lead with under a minute remaining. Although the Knights attempted a final layup, they could not connect on the basket as sophomore guard Sydney Pinn (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) grabbed the rebound and held onto the ball until the clock expired, securing the victory for New Paltz.
 
New Paltz concluded the game with a 35.1 field goal percentage (20-of-57) and scored 24 points off turnovers. Geneseo held a 46-35 edge in boards and shot 31.5 percent from the floor (17-of-54) while scoring 28 bench points.
 
Harrison connected on 12-of-18 free throw shots and tallied three steals and two assists to lead the way with 18 points while Irby finished the night with a double-double 11 points and team-high 10 rebounds.
 
Vienneau hit 6-of-9 shots from the line and 4-of-7 from the field to lead the Knights with 14 points and posted a team-high 10 boards. Junior guard Katie Durand chipped in nine points in the loss.
 
The NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Selection Show air on Monday, Feb.  29 at 2:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.