The women’s basketball team added two wins to their season after successful bouts against State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) competitors SUNY Potsdam and SUNY Plattsburgh this past weekend.
Hawks head coach Jamie Seward credits the team’s 63-43 and 72-41 wins over Potsdam and Plattsburgh to their collective energy.
“We played with a lot of energy both nights,” Seward said. “We really talked about dictating the terms about how the game was gonna be played and the intensity level.”
Despite the team’s recent string of wins, their game against Potsdam on Friday, Jan. 27 had a slow start. A close first quarter resulted in a score of 17-all going into the second.
“We came together and talked about how hard we had been playing and working in practice and that we needed to start playing like that,” fourth-year co-captain Kit Small said. “We knew that we couldn’t practice harder than we play so we came together and started getting stops on the defensive end and that gave us the boost we needed to regain control of the game.”
The team outscored the Bears with an 18-5 run by the end of the first half, maintaining their lead through defensive play, including a 38-32 advantage in rebounds and 33 points converted off of turnovers.
Second-year guard Lindsay Bettke led in conversions, scoring 6-of-11 from the floor and 3-of-6 from beyond the arc, while Small had five assists and 13 points. Second-year guard Taylor Howell led the team with six rebounds.
“We saw specific people successfully doing things in games that they have been struggling doing in practice,” Small said. “It is really a great thing to see.”
Though the Bears worked to bring the score within 17 points by the fourth quarter, the Hawks ultimately came out on top, carrying that momentum into their game against Plattsburgh on Jan. 28.
“We played really good defense this weekend, especially on Saturday,” Small said. “We also were very successful rebounding on Saturday having 25 offensive rebounds to their 24 defensive rebounds.”
Building off their performance the night before, first-year guard Marion Dietz pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds for the Hawks, compared to the Cardinal’s team-high of five. The Hawks’ dominant defensive play matched their offensive play.
Small, first-year guard Sandi Harris, and first-year forward Paige Niemeyer made a combined 14-of-26 shots from the floor and 10-of-14 from the line. All three scored 14 points towards the 31-point final lead over the Cardinals.
Starting with a 15-8 lead in the first quarter, the Hawks held and expanded their lead through the game. By the third period, the Hawks had a 30-point lead, which they would hold onto through the end of the game, marking the team’s fifth consecutive SUNYAC win.
The Hawks start a six-game stint at home on Friday, Feb. 3 at 7:30 p.m. against SUNY Fredonia.