NEW PALTZ, N.Y.- The New Paltz Hawks (11-8, 9-3 SUNYAC) started the game on a 10-0 run and never looked back on their way to a 86-65 victory. Maliqua Fisher converted on 10 of her 11 field goal attempts and scored 21 points while teammate Alex McCullough scored a game-high 23 points.

New Paltz built an early lead of 24-9 in the first half but the feisty Bears would battle. Sparked by consecutive three-pointers from Jessica Kouzan and Hannah Kmiecinski, Potsdam scored eight straight points tocut the lead to 24-17 with 4:39 remaining. The lead ballooned back up to 10 but the Bears again battled back and scored the final four points of the half to cut the lead to 31-25 going into halftime.

New Paltz came out ready to play to start the second half. The Hawks used an early 10-1 spurt to gain the upper hand. For the half, New Paltz knocked down 53.7 percent of their second half field goals and hit 4-of-5 shots from long range. They forced Potsdam into 13 turnovers and scored 55 points in the half with Fisher scoring 13 to lead the attack and McCullough adding 10.

For the night, Potsdam (4-15, 2-10) shot 47.1 percent from the field and hit five three’s on the game. Sophomore Chenice Russell led the Bears with 11 points and junior Katy Briedis and senior Kaley Arsenault both added 10.

New Paltz ended the game with a 47.3 field goal percentage and held a 42-28 advantage on the boards. Shanay Bradley pulled down 11 of those rebounds and scored 10 points for the double-double.

The Bears return to action on Friday evening when they return home to take on Fredonia at 6 p.m.