New Paltz Sports Information Department
New Paltz, NY — For the first time since 2020, the Hawk Center played host to the a NCAA Tournament game and the round one atmosphere lived up.
With the raucous crowd vibrating the gym, the State University of New York at New Paltz used all its momentum and some hot shooting off the bench from senior Madison Mullman to survive and advance onto round two after a 70-52 first round win over Penn State-Harrisburg Friday night in the Hawk Center.
Hawks coach Jamie Seward needed to go deep into his bench early, as the game was called tightly in a physical start with both teams getting into foul trouble. All-American guard-forward Brianna Fitzgerald was hit with her third foul midway through the third quarter, giving way to some needed minutes off the bench with SUNY New Paltz proving its depth in an impressive team performance. Totaling 27 points and 11 rebounds off the bench, SUNY New Paltz held off a tough Lions team, opening up the game in the fourth with productive shooting from the field, as they hit 13-for-31 (42 percent) in the final 20 minutes.
"We have a lot of good players who would be great players on other teams and for us they're good players and play a role that they do such a good job with, not only playing the role but embracing it and doing whatever needs to be done for the team," Seward said. "Today some people stepped up into some different roles when we got into some foul trouble."
Mullman, however, was the catalyst as she produced the best game of her career thus far in one of the biggest games of her career. She finished with a career- and game-high of 23 points, shooting 8-for-12 from the floor, which included 7-for-10 from 3-point range — all career-highs as well — while adding two rebounds and an assist, and a pair of key defensive plays to lead her team to the first-round win.
"It was great, just hearing the crowd cheer my name, it was just a fun game overall," Mullman said. "It helped me make shots, but I think we stuck together as a team the whole time. We had a fun game and we just kept pushing through everything that happened throughout the game."
SUNY New Paltz got out to a quick 5-0 lead as a Jenny Walton steal off a press in the opening minutes led to an easy two points for Fitzgerald. Walton then knocked down an attempt from the arc following a defensive stop to give her team the lead and the Hawks never trailed from that point forward.
Penn State-Harrisburg responded though, tying the game at five and then at 13-all with less than three minutes to go in the first quarter following a make from 3-point range on the break. Semaiah Williams helped re-establish the SUNY New Paltz lead with a put-back underneath before Julia Sabatino added two from the foul line to end the period to extend the advantage, 17-13.
Abby Korzekwinski stepped up as one of the Hawks' top offensive threats, as she also neared a career high as well. She did a little bit of everything, facilitating with five assists, while adding seven rebounds — four of which came on the offensive end — with 17 points on 7-for-14 shooting. She opened up the second quarter with a make underneath off a dish from Walton, then two minutes later fed Fitzgerald for two points before re-upping a five-point lead for her team out of the media timeout at 23-18. She stayed firm defensively on the ensuing possession, stepping into the lane, keeping her hands up and using her size to earn a block and then getting to the foul line next time down the floor as she got hit on the offensive rebound. After she made both attempts, she pushed the lead to seven with about three minutes to go in the half.
A 3-point field goal trimmed the difference to four for the Lions, but Mullman stalled any momentum as she swished from the arc on a hand off on the perimeter, nailing a straight-on 3 to 
boost the lead back to seven. Penn State-Harrisburg answered with a triple, but Walton made her way into the paint off an assist from Korzekwinski to give SUNY New Paltz a 34-27 cushion at halftime.
"I think going into the game we talked about how small they were and to take advantage inside," Korzekwinski said. "I just had to get all the boards and finish strong inside, and we just had to work as a team when people weren't in."
The Lions threatened the Hawks lead as Ali Lister hit from 3-point range before Giahny Correa connected on the break to get within five early in the third quarter, but Mullman put an end to any idea of a rally. The East Northport, NY native subbed in and was handed the ball and she continued her hot shooting with another make from the perimeter, which instigated a 6-2 run.
Mullman ended up hitting her first five shots from 3-point range with her sixth also nearly going in, rimming in and out of the hoop, but the miss didn't deter her night as she knocked down another nearing quarter's end to push the lead to 13. Lister answered with about 20 seconds left in the period, but Fitzgerald re-established the 13-point cushion entering the fourth as she knocked down a shot to push the score to 57-44.
"I am super proud of our team," said Penn State-Harrisburg coach Ross Patrick. "What a great environment, what a great day to be here. The student section for SUNY New Paltz, congratulations to them on the win. Our team the entire year has been grit and resilience. We've had players score double digits in every game, so when we talk about the epitome of team it's this team, but we also have some players who have some dynamic ability, and our goal was to really spread out the pressure and we did that very well in the first half. SUNY New Paltz did a good job of adjusting to some of the things we were doing and then Madison, boy she had a night. She was 7-for-10 from 3, hats off to her."
SUNY New Paltz started pulling away in the fourth quarter. Fitzgerald helped get the lead to 20 on a nifty no-look pass to Korzekewinski running the floor following a steal three minutes into the quarter. The Lions broke into the 20-point deficit, but this time Mullman deflated the visitor's momentum on the defensive side of the floor as she stepped into the paint for the charge on a driving Giahny Correa who suffered her fifth and final of the game.
"The two charges she took, arguably the two biggest plays of the game. On top of shooting the ball well, she did a lot of things," Seward said of Mullman's performance.
"[Penn State-Harrisburg] is way better than what they look on paper. Ali Lister is a Division II athlete, she played Division II basketball for two years. They have two other players who are Division II players who were scholarship players out of high school, and they have some really experienced players beyond that," Seward added. "They have athletic kids, good shooters. They had put sometimes four shooters out on the floor and spread you out and I thought we did a good job on the initial defense. A lot of their 3's came off of loose balls, offensive rebounds… but I thought overall our initial defense was pretty good. They got to the basket a little bit early in the game and I thought we did a better job and then stepping in and taking those charges was really crucial."
A steal by Sabatino led to more points in the paint by Korzewkinski with Fitzgerald tallying the assist on the play, which gave the Hawks their largest lead of the day at 70-49. SUNY New Paltz closed out easily from there, cementing their second straight second round NCAA appearance.
SUNY New Paltz held the Lions to 31 percent shooting from the field, while limiting them to just three made baskets in the fourth. The Hawks also took advantage of their size, totaling 18 offensive boards and out-rebounding their opponent, 41-37 in the game, while forcing 19 turnovers off 11 steals. The team also totaled 18 assists with four different players recording three or more. Fitzgerald led the team with six helpers, while adding a team-high 10 rebounds with two steals and nine points. Walton followed with nine points, six rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a team-leading four steals. Sabatino finished with eight points, three rebounds, three assists, a block and three steals. Williams did work on the glass, ripping down nine boards to go along with four points.
SUNY New Paltz returns to the Hawk Center Friday night to face Baldwin Wallace in a second-round matchup. The Yellowjackets came from 10 down at halftime to knock out Trinity College in the earlier first round game in the Hawk Center. Tip-off between the Hawks and Baldwin Wallace is set for 7:15 p.m.
For more NCAA Tournament info in the Hawk Center, click here.
