New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz used a 17-point run in the third quarter Saturday to open up what became a dominant second-half performance against visiting SUNY Oneonta. After trailing by as many as 11 within the first 20 minutes, the Hawks battled back to claim a 71-41 victory over the Red Dragons to complete the series sweep.
 
"I kind of challenged them at halftime — it's not like it was the first time that I've done something like that, but I thought they responded well," said SUNY New Paltz coach Jamie Seward after the win. "I thought they played much more aggressively. They just played a lot harder in the second half. In that stretch there in the third quarter we were playing really well and they didn't get a shot at the basket for a while and that turned into offense for us. That's how we need to play if we want to be good. We have to really utilize our defense to create offense. That's really necessary if we want to be the kind of team we want to be. That's something that we really need to take advantage of."
 
Similar to a few of their outings earlier in the season, the Hawks (14-3 overall, 9-1 SUNYAC) started out slow and really struggled on the offensive end. In turn, the Red Dragons (6-11, 3-7) had their way in the paint with senior forward Casey Hayes leading the way. She scored 12 of her final 16 points in the first half, 10 of which came underneath the basket.
 
After trailing 16-13 at the end of the first quarter, which SUNY New Paltz's Maddie Van Pelt cut following a 3-pointer to end the period, the Hawks went scoreless through the first six minutes of the second, missing six-straight attempts, while suffering four turnovers during the stretch. The slump allowed Oneonta to take its largest lead of the game, going up 26-15 with about three minutes to go. Marion Dietz earned a trip to the foul line, connecting on both to end the scoreless run.
 
 
Van Pelt earned the Hawks their first basket of the quarter on a made 3 from the corner, which facilitated a 8-0 run for the hosts to end the half. Following a defensive stop, Paige Niemeyer connected from the perimeter to get SUNY New Paltz within five with just more than two minutes left. Niemeyer made another play on the defensive end, getting her hands on a pass, which led to a foul by the Red Dragons' Shelby Benjamin to put Niemeyer on the line where she made both to cut the score, 26-23 at halftime.
 
"I think we did close the half well to get back into the game in some level," Seward said. "We did get down to almost double-digits, if not double-digits. We could have certainly gone into the half with a pretty big deficit. Closing the half and getting it down to three... I thought that made it a little easier."
 
SUNY New Paltz took that momentum into the third quarter where it began its 17-0 run following a made basket by the Red Dragons' Lauren Obermayer just two minutes into the period. The Hawks caused eight turnovers in the stretch, while totaling seven steals and limiting Oneonta to 0-for-4 from the field in the span. Philesha Teape got in on the action as she knocked down back-to-back 3's and earned a charge on the defensive end to build up SUNY New Paltz's momentum.
 
"The third quarter I think we really came alive," Van Pelt said. "We had a 17-0 run during that span and we really just felt the energy from the bench, especially from Phil. She made a couple 3's and a charge and she just kind of fueled our fire and we got so excited. Our defense was fueling our offense. That's why we went on that run."  
Niemeyer helped extend the cushion in the fourth on consecutive plays. The senior got up for a block on an Oneonta shot and forced a turnover before earning a trip to the foul line where she hit on both. She had an and-1 on the ensuing offensive possession for the Hawks and then forced her second-straight turnover next time down the floor, getting a steal to then capitalize with a bucket and a foul at the opposite end. Olivia Badura helped pile on, as she attacked the basket with a nifty finish to give her team their first 20-point lead with about 6:40 left in the game.  
 
"In the second half I think we just changed mentally," Van Pelt added. "I think we knew we needed to be more urgent and we just trapped them. We pressured them more and we really just turned them over, making it in our favor, having some steals on the back end."
 
SUNY New Paltz registered 17 steals in the game — second most this season — with 11 coming in the second half. The Hawks also forced 29 Red Dragon turnovers — their season-worst — with 15 recorded in the final 20 minutes. And, after Oneonta had a 23-13 advantage on the glass in the first half, SUNY New Paltz worked to cut that down to 21-18 in the second.
 
"That was the game plan really was to speed them up and get them to play out of control," Seward said. "I thought we forced some turnovers doing so, and we really needed to rebound the ball. Really, those were the two things we thought if we played hard we can do those things and I thought in the first half we didn't. Again, Casey Hayes was the hardest playing kid on the floor in the first half. That's what we talked about last time and we got beat because of it. For that to happen in the first half, it was definitely a concern, but they responded to the challenge."
 
Van Pelt and Niemeyer led the way offensively, scoring 16 points apiece. Van Pelt went 6-for-11 rom the field, including 3-for-5 from 3-point range, with four rebounds and a team-high seven steals. Niemeyer finished 5-for-14, including 2-for-4 from the perimeter with three rebounds, three assists, two steals and three blocks. Dietz followed with 10 points, two assists, four steals and two blocks.
 
The Hawks are back on the floor Tuesday when they make a day trip to Oswego State to complete their home-and-home series with the Lakers. They hope to carry their second half into the matchup and duplicate that performance, especially defensively for 40 minutes.
 
"[That's] the vision we kind of had for this team, but it takes a lot of effort," said Seward of his team's second-half performance Saturday. "It's difficult to play that hard. The style requires you to play really hard and it's simple execution wise, but physically it's hard and we need to put that kind of effort out there day-in and day-out so that 40 minutes just becomes what it is and what we're doing."
 
SUNY New Paltz is set to tip-off against the Lakers Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.

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