SUNY New Paltz capped its highly successful run as a member of the SUNY Athletic Conference with its eighth women’s basketball title on Saturday, February 28, earning a berth in the NCAA Division III tournament. The top-seeded and host Hawks beat No. 2 SUNY Cortland 56-52 in the final, adding to SUNYAC titles in 2016-17, 2019-20, 2022 and 2024).
New Paltz joins the New Jersey Athletic Conference next season.
“The (trophy) is a nice parting gift to go out with,” said New Paltz head coach Jamie Seward.
The Hawks (25-2), ranked No. 22 in the Feb. 22 D3hoops.com poll, will head to the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, for the tournament. On Friday, March 6, New Paltz will take on Atlantic East champion Immaculata (24-3) in a 5:30 p.m. first-round contest. Following at 8 p.m., No. 10 John Carroll will host The College of New Jersey. The pod final will be 8 p.m. Saturday.
This will be New Paltz’s ninth appearance in the NCAA tourney, all since 2013 and the first since a three-year run from 2022-24. The Hawks are 5-3 in first-round games and have dropped their last three second-round games (2020, 2023, 2024).
New Paltz led Cortland for the final 23-plus minutes, but the margin was no more than four points (save for four seconds) over the final 6:45 of regulation.
The Red Dragons pulled within two points three times, the last on a layup by Kaeli McAnally with 27 seconds remaining. But Brianna Fitzgerland hit a free throw with 19 seconds left for a 55-52 lead, Cortland’s Jackie Funk missed a 3-pointer with eight seconds left and Karly Wittenbauer grabbed the rebound, got fouled and hit a foul shot with six seconds left.
Fitzgerald posted 21 points, six rebounds, four steals and three blocks, Hannah Vanderzee had 14 points and Wittenbauer had nine points and five rebounds. The Hawks shot 42 percent, missed five of six attempts beyond the arc and hit 11 of 15 free throws. New Paltz outscored Cortland 16-6 off 20 Red Dragon turnovers.
Cortland (23-4) got 16 points from McAnally and 13 from Brooke Tillotson. The Red Dragons shot 43 percent, missed all but two of 14 3-point tries and hit 12 of 14 free throws. Cortland did receive an NCAA tourney at-large berth and will travel to the pod with national No. 1 New York University, with the Red Dragons facing Messiah in the Friday opener.
Fitzgerald, Vanderzee and Wittenbauer were named to the all-tourney team, joining Tillotson, McAnally and Plattsburgh’s Julia Greek.
New Paltz nipped No. 4 Plattsburgh 39-38 in Friday’s semifinals with Wittenbauer hitting two free throws with 0.1 seconds remaining — she was fouled by Kayla Johannesen. Johannesen tipped an inbounds pass for an apparent game-winning bank shot but the officials ruled it off.
“Sometimes better to be lucky than good,” Seward said.
kmcmillan@th-record.com
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This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: New Paltz ends SUNYAC run with eighth women’s basketball championship
Reporting by Ken McMillan, Middletown Times Herald- Record / Times Herald-Record
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