Oneonta, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz escaped with a tight, 56-53 win over SUNY Oneonta Saturday at Dewar Arena.

The Hawks held a five-point lead with three minutes to go in the fourth, but the Red Dragons quickly answered to get the difference back to three. Following back-to-back missed shots by SUNY New Paltz, Oneonta cut the deficit to one following a bucket by Lauren Obermayer with about two minutes remaining. The Hawks got the ball back following a missed shot on the ensuing possession after forcing the Red Dragons into a turnover, but couldn't capitalize and fouled Clara Culeton on the defensive rebound, giving her the opportunity to push the hosts ahead.
Culeton missed both attempts, but the Hawks missed their following opportunity on the offensive end of the floor to boost their advantage. Olivia Badura came up with a big steal with 35 seconds remaining. SUNY New Paltz called a timeout to re-group for the following offensive possession and Marion Dietz took advantage out of the break and earned a trip to the foul line with 22 seconds remaining. The senior sank both attempts to extend her team's cushion to three. Oneonta missed their final three attempts from the perimeter to cement the 56-53 outcome.

"We executed very poorly down the stretch in all phases of the game," said Hawks coach Jamie Seward. "We couldn't get a good shot on offense, committed a foul 90 feet from the basket up by one with under one minute left in the game, and we gave up multiple open 3's and offensive rebounds on the final possession. Our rebounding was poor, especially on the defensive end, and while we forced a lot of turnovers, we didn't do much with them."

After the Red Dragons earned a 16-14 lead into the second quarter, the Hawks took back control before the half and went up by as many as nine points midway through the period. SUNY New Paltz countered with a 15-4 run to gain back the lead with Badura, Dietz and Lexi Van Vorst all hitting shots from behind the arc to help establish the nine-point cushion. The Red Dragons ended the half strong, however, scoring five unanswered points to cut the score, 31-27 leading into halftime.

Although Oneonta threatened the advantage and stayed close throughout the second half, they never led the rest of the way, having their best chance to re-gain the lead in the final sequences of the game.

SUNY New Paltz didn't shoot particularly well as a team, hitting less than 27 percent, but forced the Red Dragons (3-7 overall, 0-3 SUNYAC) into 27 turnovers, which turned into 17 points in their favor. Badura led the way offensively, finishing with a career-high 22 points, making 7-of-15 attempts from the floor, including 6-of-10 from 3-point range. She also added a career- and team-high five steals on the night. Dietz followed with 18 points, shooting 5-for-13 from the floor, including 4-for-7 from behind the arc with five rebounds, two assists and two steals. 

The Hawks improved to 8-2 overall with the victory and kept their perfect State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) record alive at 3-0. Oneonta dropped to 3-7 overall and 0-3 in the SUNYAC.

"I am clearly doing a very, very poor job communicating with them as we do not follow a game plan or make the necessary adjustments over the course of a game," Seward said. "I give a lot of credit to coach Thompson and her staff. I was very impressed with the way they played. They had a great game plan, executed it well and with a very young and inexperienced team played with tremendous confidence in the face of a lot of pressure. They played much better than us and harder than us as well, and we were fortunate that Marion and Olivia shot the ball as well as they did from behind the arc, or we certainly wouldn't have been able to escape with a win. That being said, we aren't going to give it back."

SUNY New Paltz resumes SUNYAC play Tuesday when it hosts Oswego State in the Hawk Center for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off.  

For everything #NPHawks be sure to follow us on Twitter at @nphawks, Instagram and Facebook at @newpaltzhawks, and subscribe to our Youtube channel, New Paltz Hawks.