NEW PALTZ, NY- The New Paltz women’s basketball team fell to the visiting Red Dragons from Cortland, Tuesday night 64-52. The Hawks fall to 10-9 overall and 7-5 in the league and Cortland improves to 16-3 overall and 11-1 in the league.
Kristen Caban led the Hawks with 14 points and three steals. Carly Minehan, Maggie Farrell and Alexandra McCullough all netted nine points, including nine rebounds for Minehan. Farrell also finished with four assists and six rebounds.
Micki Volpini led the Red Dragons with 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting and four steals. Jessica Laing had a double-double with 18 points and game-high 13 rebounds. Miranda Lustig chipped in with 10 points and four assists. Allyson Biordi finished with three points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
In the final period, the Hawks made a run to cut the lead to nine at 45-36 with 12 minutes, 27 seconds to go but the Red Dragons scored five straight to take control of the game. With three minutes, 54 seconds remaining in the final session, the Hawks were trailing by 18, 59-41 and went on a 10-3 run to cut the lead to 11 on a Caban three-pointer from the right corner. Cortland would hold off the late run by the Hawks.
In the first half, Caban hit a three-pointer from the corner to open the scoring for the Hawks and followed with a jumper on the baseline to give the Hawks a 5-0 lead. Cortland responded with an 18-3 run over the next seven minutes, 36 seconds to take an 18-8 lead. Maliqua Fisher ended the Red Dragons run with a lay-up at the nine minute, 33 second mark. The Hawks would cut the lead to four at 18-14 on Caban’s second three-pointer of the half. The Red Dragons finished the half on a 7-2 run to take a 34-24 lead into the break. Cortland outscored the Hawks 16-8 in the paint and 9-0 on the fast break. The Hawks held an 11-2 offensive rebound margin in the half, which led to a 9-2 advantage on second chance points.
