New Paltz Sports Information Department
NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – New Paltz women's basketball team survived and advanced into the second round of the NCAA Tournament Friday after defeating visiting Husson University, 69-50.
The Hawks (25-3 overall) knew they needed to limit the Eagles chances inside with the latter holding a size advantage, especially with 6-foot, 3-inch freshman center Bailey Donovan who entered the match up averaging 14.5 points and 10.2 rebounds per game.
SUNY New Paltz pressed and ran the floor, taking advantage of its quickness and athleticism, and got out to a 23-11 lead after the first quarter with Dietz leading the way with 11 points in the opening 10 minutes. Husson fought back to cut the deficit to eight early in the second, and then later to nine once again with about four minutes to go in the half, but the Hawks responded with back-to-back mini-runs to re-establish a double-digit cushion.
A free throw by Vanessa Duarate brought the deficit back down to 29-20 with less than four minutes left, but off the missed second attempt by Duarate at the line, Cassidy Deaver grabbed the rebound and quickly pushed up the floor to Philesha Teape who found Lexi Van Vorst on a finish inside. Each team traded missed shots, but SUNY New Paltz took advantage on consecutive turnovers by Husson, which led to a bucket by Maddie Gillis in the paint to extend the lead to 13 with about two minutes to go.
Marion Dietz added on after causing a steal and getting to the charity stripe off the fast break, making 1-of-2 to push the difference to 14. Duarte added one last basket to end the quarter and trim the deficit to 34-22 at halftime.
"Our defense just carried us at that point," said Dietz. "We started off hot and then we got into a stretch where we couldn't really put the ball in the basket. Even though our defense wasn't the best tonight, we just needed to dig in and try to get something going on that side of the court."
The second half went scoreless until Emma Alley found Donovan running the floor for an easy layup in transition to bring the difference to 10 with about 8:30 to go in the quarter. Maddie Van Pelt responded by getting to the foul line on the ensuing possession, which started a 7-0 run that helped open up the game. The Hawks' Paige Niemeyer batted down a pass by Sami Ireland, which led to a 3-pointer by Dietz at the other side of the floor. Teape added on after grabbing a miss from Dietz, and then snatching her own offensive board for the second chance put-back to give SUNY New Paltz a 17-point advantage.
"I think it was difficult for us because we never really found an offensive flow, so it was kind of hard for me to set up because I was doubled the whole time no matter where I moved," Donovan said. "There was always two or three people on me, so I think that made it difficult for our guards to find me and they did a great job of shutting me down I thought."
Husson worked its way to as close as 11 early on in the fourth, but again the Hawks made sure to break up any hopes of an Eagles rally. Van Pelt buried a trey from the edge of the arc and after Niemeyer forced another steal on Duarte, Gillis capitalized by hitting another 3 in the same spot as Van Pelt to quickly boost the lead back to 17. Gillis and Van Pelt accounted for all 11 of SUNY New Paltz's points in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, which helped balloon the lead to a comfortable 20-point difference that Husson couldn't overcome.
"I don't think we've had a team press us for most of the game. So that made it a little more difficult to get the ball in as quickly as we would have liked to when they were doubling," said Husson coach Kissy Walker. "It felt like when we would start to get a little closer in [to] nine or 10, and then maybe get another defensive stop and cut it to seven or eight, they'd drain a 3 and they did that a number of times. They were affective at hitting those 3's and opening it up every time we even tried to make any kind of a run.
Dietz led all scorers with 15 points on an efficient 5-for-13 shooting from the field, including 4-for-7 from 3-point range, while adding two rebounds and two steals in 27 minutes. Gillis had a productive NCAA Tournament debut, following Dietz offensively with 11 points after making 5-for-10 from the field with four rebounds and two assists on the night.
"One of the game plans going into tonight was that they were going to have smaller guards guarding me, and so we were going to try and take advantage of that," Gillis said. "I thought for the most part, I had one in the first half and a few in the second half where we ran the play and got it inside and I finished most of them. We took advantage of that."
The Hawks didn't allow a single Husson player in double-figure points with Donovan ending with eight points and seven rebounds on the night. Alley and Sydney Allen also added eight points on the night apiece. As a team the Eagles shot just 36.5 percent with SUNY New Paltz forcing 22 turnovers on the night.
"I think we were able to keep the ball out of the post for the most part," said Hawks coach Jamie Seward. "[Donovan] is a really efficient scorer in the post, so we tried to keep it out of her hands as much as possible. They have a bunch of weapons around her, so it makes it difficult. You have to get back on these kids on the perimeter. I think we did a good job of keeping it out of there and keeping them off the glass and drawing some offensive fouls on them early in the game [which] maybe made them a little bit tentative. We came out shooting the ball well in the first half. Marion and Lexi made a couple shots each and I think that gave us a little bit of a cushion that we were able to build on in the second half."
SUNY New Paltz, which matched last season's program-best win mark with the victory, moves on to round two Saturday against Smith College. The Pioneers looked impressive in a 81-72 win over DeSales University Friday in the Hawk Center, knocking off a Bulldog team that made an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance a year ago. Smith was hot from around the arc, as they shot 65.2 percent from the floor and 47.1 percent from 3-point range with three players totaling with 16 or more points.
"They're good. They are a really well coached team," Seward said. "To have such a young team, I mean they don't have a senior on their roster and their rotation is dominated by freshman and sophomores, that clearly speaks to what a well coached team they are. They have some really talented players. They score the ball well inside, they post up strong, they run their stuff, they don't make a lot of mistakes and they make shots from the perimeter and they make you pay if you help off those players inside."
The Hawks are set to face Smith in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Hawk Center.
"Like I said, you're going to have your work cut out for you no matter who you play this time of year," Seward added. "There's only 32 teams left and you don't get here by mistake, so we're going to have a tough matchup and a tough opponent, but that's the fun part. We get a chance to go out there and play tomorrow and not many people have a chance to do that regardless if you're playing the No. 1 team in the country or someone unranked. None of that matters anymore. You have to go out there and win your way to get into this tournament and win to stay in this tournament."
