Strong Second Half Lift Hawks Past Bears

NEW PALTZ, NY- The SUNY New Paltz women’s basketball team remained undefeated in the conference with a 70-59 (Box Score) win over the Bears from Potsdam, Saturday afternoon in the Hawk Center. The Hawks improve to 5-1 overall, 2-0 in the SUNYAC and return to the court January 2, 2010 against Susquehanna in the William Patterson Tournament at 6 p.m.

Caitlin Irwin led the way with for the Hawks with 13 points and seven steals. Kristen Caban added 10 points and tied her career-high with four assists and Nicole Sarcone chipped in with 11 points and six assists.

Rachel Graf led the Bears with a game-high 14 points and six rebounds and Brittany Whitton added 12 points and three steals. Aimee Kellicutt had 11 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals as the Bears fall to 1-5 overall and 0-2 in the SUNYAC.

The Hawks started the game on a 1-4 run and extended the lead to a nine at 16-7 with 14:00 minutes remaining in the first half. The Bears responded with a 17-4 run over the next eight minutes to take a 24-20 lead with 5:54 remaining in the half. The Hawks would regain the lead with a 13-4 run and went into the break with a 33-30 lead.

In the second half, Caban hit a three-pointer to take a 36-30 lead. The Bears would score the next five points in a 1:30 span to cut the lead to 36-35. From that point on the Hawks took control of the game. The Hawks used two separate runs of 13-2 and 7-0 to coast to the 70-59 victory.