ITHACA, N.Y. – The State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball team secured its spot in the second round of the 2017 NCAA Division III Tournament with a 62-61 victory over No. 19-ranked Bowdoin College on Friday evening in the Ben Light Gymnasium at Ithaca College.

This marks the first NCAA Tournament game win for the Hawks, as well as the first time in program history that the squad has beaten nationally ranked teams in back-to-back contests.

"It's a credit to these players and the leadership they have demonstrated to fight through some adversity through course of the season," said head coach Jamie Seward. "(Bowdoin) is a good team and they did not shoot the ball particularly well tonight, I would like to think we had something to do with that, but they kept fighting and I think that is a testament to the type of program they are."

The Hawks shot 40 percent (22-of-50) from the floor and 93.3 percent (14-of-15) from the line, while limiting the Polar Bears to a 34.5 (19-of-55) field goal percentage and holding 44-26 margin in rebounds.

Senior guard/forward Kit Small (Slingerlands, N.Y./Academy of the Holy Names) led the team with 14 points, going 5-of-11 from the field and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe while pulling down eight boards and recording three steals. Senior forward Courtney Irby (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) and freshman guard Marion Dietz (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay-East Fishkill) tallied 11 points each while freshman guard Paige Niemeyer (North Chatham, N.Y./Ichabod Crane) recorded eight rebounds.

11 Bowdoin players scored in the loss. Abigail Kelly paced the team with 13 points off the bench and a team-high six rebounds while Marle Curle and Maddie Hasson each recorded nine points.

The Hawks led for most of the first quarter, with Bowdoin briefly taking hold of the lead, 9-8, at the 3:45 mark. New Paltz took back the advantage off of a 4-0 run but the Polar Bears would trail by just one (12-11) heading into the second quarter.

Both teams swapped the lead several times in the second stanza but the Hawks churned out a 6-0 spurt for a 27-22 advantage at the half. Coming out of the break, the score landed in favor of Bowdoin who grabbed its biggest lead, 31-27 with 5:43 on the clock. But the Hawks were undeterred, slicing the deficit to one before jumping ahead, 35-32. The Polar Bears stayed closely behind until New Paltz pulled away for a 46-35 advantage heading into the final period.

With 5:10 left to play in the fourth quarter, the Hawks held a 54-44 advantage over the Polar Bears but that lead was slowly chipped away as Bowdoin roped the score within three at the (56-53) with under two minutes to go. New Paltz managed to stay ahead, gaining a four point edge (62-58) off two free throws by sophomore guard Lindsay Bettke(Pelham, N.Y./The Ursuline School). As the clock continued to wind down, Bowdoin managed to knock down a 3-pointer for the final 62-61 tally but with just six seconds left on the clock, New Paltz held onto the ball and took home the win.

New Paltz improves to 19-8 and will face host Ithaca for a second time this season at 5 p.m.