NEW PALTZ, N.Y. - New Paltz and Geneseo both win State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) semifinal games Friday night and will face off in the SUNYAC Championship game Saturday, Feb. 23 at 4 p.m.
The first semifinals game was between the Geneseo Knights and the Fredonia Blue Devils and Geneseo controlled the tempo of the game from start to finish. The only moment in the game that Geneseo was not ahead was in the first 30 seconds of the game when the score was 2-2. This point on the Knights would not lose the lead and would continue to put points on the board. Geneseo was up 28-12 at the half. Led by McKenna Brooks' double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds and Lindsay Halpin's 14 points and five rebounds, the Geneseo Knights would be victorious with a final score of 62-30.
The second semifinals game between the New Paltz Hawks and the Brockport Golden Eagles went down to the wire, but New Paltz would hold on in front of the home crowd and win 70-67. New Paltz would be out in front at the end of the first quarter with a score of 21-13. At the half, Brockport would be able to close the gap to three points and only be down 37-34. The third quarter would be neck and neck all the way through and end with New Paltz being up 47-45. The Hawks would come out hot in the fourth quarter and go on an 11-0 run to go up 58-45. The Golden Eagles would be able to tie the game at 67 with 39 seconds left. However, that is as close as Brockport would get as Rachel Simon would hit three clutch free throws in the final seconds of the game. New Paltz senior Lindsay Bettke would put on a show dropping 26 points, 4 steals, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists all while shooting 7-10 from three-point range.
New Paltz is playing for its third straight SUNYAC crown while Geneseo looks to take its sixth title overall and first since 2015.