Hawks Fall In SUNYAC Quarterfinals

UTICA — Maura McShane had five points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals on Wednesday night at Utica Memorial Auditorium but SUNY New Paltz lost anyway to second-seeded women’s basketball power Cortland, 69-36, in the quarterfinals of the SUNYAC Basketball Tournament.

Britni Bishop had a team-high nine points, and Sonya Mkoloma had eight points, four rebounds and four steals for New Paltz (12-13), which finished its most successful season in recent history.

This season, New Paltz finished in a three-way tie for the sixth-best record (9-11) in the extremely tough SUNYAC, which broke by three the previous school record for conference wins, and included a 75-70 win at third-seeded Geneseo, and a pair of eight-point victories against fourth-seeded Fredonia.

Additionally, New Paltz defeated local rival Mount St. Mary – which has been awarded an automatic bid to the 2001 NCAA Division III Tournament – by 14 points, 70-56, on Nov. 28 at Elting Gymnasium.

It was the first playoff berth for the Hawks since 1994 – when they lost 83-57 to eventual champion Buffalo State in the SUNYAC quarterfinals at Potsdam – and was only the third postseason berth of any kind in the program’s history.

In 1993, New Paltz lost a 79-78 heartbreaker to Rutgers-Newark in the opening round of the Eastern College Athletic Conference Metro New York-New Jersey Tournament.

For complete game statistics, please visit the following location: http://hawk.newpaltz.edu/athletics/statistics/files/wbbstats02212001.pdf