PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – Followers of the Plattsburgh State women's basketball program already know that Brittany Marshall and Devona Paul can light up the scoreboard with the best of them. 

On Friday night, the potent dynamic duo was joined by Allie Taylor who rounded out what was quite the effective big three for the Cardinals. 

Senior Brittany Marshall came through with 18 points to become the ninth women's basketball player in program history to record 1,000 points in a career while her fellow compatriots Devona Paul (19 points, 17 rebounds) and Allie Taylor (21 points) bamboozled New Paltz, too, as the Cardinals gutted out a 71-65 triumph in Memorial Hall on Friday night.

Paul's 17 rebounds eclipsed her previous career high of 16 while Taylor's 21 points stands as an NCAA career high for the former junior college star. In her star-studded four-year career, Marshall has recorded 1,008 points which is the seventh-highest total in the history of the program.  

"Pretty" was definitely not the correct adjective to describe the Cardinals' SUNYAC opener. The previous two SUNYAC champions combined for 50 personal fouls and 54 turnovers, and neither squad's field goal percentage crept north of 33.3, but the final 10 minutes of regulation belonged to the Cardinals.

Early on, the Hawks found themselves at an extreme disadvantage in the painted area thanks to Paul. The junior came to play, netting nine of the first 11 Plattsburgh State points with a series of blunt force post moves.

Leading 11-6, the Cardinals got a taste of the Hawks' long-range prowess when Colleen Ames and Sydney Pinn each dropped in a triple to tie the score 5:14 into things.

Building its edge back to five points was the task for the Cardinals' big three who accounted for each of the next seven Plattsburgh State points which made matters 18-13 midway through the initial stanza. Out of the 35 points Plattsburgh State amassed in the opening frame, all but four were scored by Marshall, Paul and Taylor.

Through the course of the back-and-forth frame, there were nine ties – the last of which came when Marshall hit a pair of free throws to produce a 35-all deadlock just before the halftime horn.

The second half, though, belonged almost exclusively to Taylor. The Hannibal, N.Y., product would go on to score 12 of the first 15 Plattsburgh State points of the deciding frame, using some great transition offense and an accurate touch at the free throw stripe to get the job done.

Ratcheting up its defensive intensity a couple of notches, the Cardinals made life miserable for the Hawks in the final 20 minutes. New Paltz went 8-of-41 (19.5-percent) from the field and a woeful 1-of-15 (6.7-percent) from long range in that particular half.

The Hawks recorded their last lead of the game when Norvonee Hall sank a jumper in the painted area with 11:08 remaining which made the score 51-50. From there, Paul began a 6-0 Plattsburgh State spurt with two swishes at the foul line.

It took over three-quarters of the game, but the Cardinals finally got a three-point field goal of their own to go down when Jax Miller rattled one home to up the lead to 55-51. Taylor closed out the run by splitting a pair at the free throw line. 

With their sputtering offense finally coming around, the Cardinals proceeded to build up their lead to as many as nine points late in the frame. Stephanie Linder put her head down and waded through a flotilla of New Paltz interior defenders to sink a layup before Taylor hit a bank shot from in close and Miller canned her second trifecta of the night.

Leading 65-56 with 3:25 remaining, the Cardinals elicited one final - and furious - push from the Hawks before being able to put the win in the books. Over the next 1:05, the Hawks slung in seven straight points - the biggest of which came when Shannan Walker courageously drained a fast-break three-point bomb. The Cardinals' lead shrunk to just one, 66-65, when Hall hit another jumper with 1:35 to go. 

Needing any form of offense to stay alive, the Cardinals saw Taylor misfire on a long range attempt, but Paul was there to run down the offensive board. From there, the Cardinals hit five free throws to secure their first SUNYAC win of the 2014-15 campaign. 

For the game, Plattsburgh State shot 21-of-63 (33.3-percent) from the field and survived a 2-of-16 (12.5-percent) performance from downtown. Kit Small led a quartet of Hawks who reached double-digits in scoring by netting 14 points. Walker (12), Ames (10) and Harrison (10) each added 10 or more points for the visitors. Hall ran down a team-high 15 rebounds for New Paltz. 

One final SUNYAC opponent stands between the Cardinals and a 2-0 conference record in 2014. Oneonta State, who bested SUNY Potsdam, will bring its 1-0 SUNYAC mark into Memorial Hall on Saturday afternoon. The battle between the pair of 1-0 conference foes will begin at 4 p.m.