NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – For the second time in as many games, the Plattsburgh State women's basketball team staged a last-ditch comeback effort in the second half, but New Paltz halted the Cardinals' plans for a come-from-behind win by knocking down some timely shots in the closing minutes and went on to hand the visiting team a 74-66 loss at the Hawk Center on Saturday afternoon.
With the setback, Plattsburgh State slips to 9-11 and 6-7 in SUNYAC battles while New Paltz improved to 14-6 and 10-3 in league games.
The efforts of Allie Taylor, Devona Paul and Brittany Marshall were hardly in question as the trio joined forces to amass 50 of the Cardinals' 66 points. Taylor, a junior out of Hannibal, N.Y., dropped in a game-high 21 points while Marshall added 17 markers and a game-high six assists.
Paul put on a double-double performance, registering 12 points and 10 rebounds to compliment four blocked shots and an assist. Misha Green tied Paul for game-high honors in the rebounding department, snaring 10 of her own.
Although they shot at a better clip from the field than the Hawks (39.3-percent to 33.8-percent), the Cardinals came up empty from three-point land, misfiring on all nine of their attempts from that distance.
The aforementioned trio was the cause of a series of two-point leads for the visitors in the opening minutes. Taylor scored six of the first eight Plattsburgh State points in the first 4:10 of the game, handing the Cardinals an 8-6 edge in the process.
Marshall's hard-driving excursion to the rim resulted in a layup for the senior out of Malone, N.Y., and also gave Plattsburgh State its final lead of the game, 10-8, with 15:15 remaining in the first half.
From there, the Hawks and their run-and-gun offense took center stage by embarking on a 14-3 surge over a span of 6:06 to open up a 22-13 advantage. Sydney Pinn was the Hawk who dealt the most damage as she slung in eight markers during the offensive spree.
New Paltz would up its lead to as many as 16 points in the opening 20-minute stanza. Courtney Irby swished two free throws with 2:33 to go in the half to make matters 39-23, but the Cardinals responded with a trio of charity stripe hits of their own to close out the first-half scoring and entered their locker room down 39-26 at the half.
Eleven Plattsburgh State turnovers in the frame were turned into 13 points on the Hawks' offensive end while Taylor had amassed 11 markers in the first half.
After a long delay due to one of the two nets having to be replaced, Marshall banked in a layup for begin the final frame. The Hawks, though, wasted little time in bringing their lead back up to 16. Shannan Walker drilled a deep ball off of an offensive rebound to make the score 50-34 with 13:52 to go.
Still down 51-36 as the midway point of the half neared, the Cardinals were able to draw foul after foul on the home team and begin their comeback from the foul stripe. All but four points during a 10-4 Plattsburgh State surge came from free throw distance and Jessica Dolan's pair of conversions from there pulled the visitors within nine, 55-46, with 7:41 remaining.
After Colleen Ames split a pair of foul shots for the Hawks, Marshall, Paul and Taylor combined to net the next seven points of the game and close the gap to just three, 56-53 with 5:57 to go.
Layups from Paul after a pair of New Paltz two-point trips on the other end kept it a three-point game, but Walker canned a big-time deep ball before Kit Small drove to the rack for a layup to push the Hawks' lead to eight, 65-57, as the clock showed 2:55 left in the game.
More free throws from the Cardinals keyed a 7-2 run which made it a one-possession game once again (67-64) with 43 seconds left, but New Paltz went 7-for-8 from the foul line to close out the game and secure the win.
Walker concluded her afternoon with a team-high 18 points while Small and Irby added 17 and 15 respectively for the home team.
In a little over six days, the Cardinals will be in Cortland, N.Y., to match basketball wits with the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons. Plattsburgh State's last Friday night road SUNYAC game of the regular season is scheduled to tip-off at 7:30 p.m.
