The Brockport women’s basketball team lost to New Paltz Saturday 89-59. The Golden Eagles came into this game after a win Friday over Oneonta in their first SUNYAC matchup of the season.
Despite the 68-45 victory the previous night, head coach Corrine Jones emphasized the importance of focusing on one game at a time.
“We did a shootaround this morning to reset,” Jones said. “Whether it’s a win or loss before you have to bounce back.”
The Hawks came into this matchup with a conference opening victory over Geneseo and an overall record of 5-1.
New Paltz dominated from the jump, outscoring Brockport 23-12 in the first quarter. A key figure in the Hawk’s offense, Jenny Walton led all scorers with 34 points, followed by teammate Brianna Fitzgerald, who added 16.
Brockport had a stronger second quarter and would go into halftime down 41-27.
In the second half, New Paltz was solid defensively, forcing nine turnovers and scoring 13 points off those turnovers.
The Golden Eagles were able to get a boost from the bench, which outscored the New Paltz bench 26-16. Shannon Blankenship came off the bench to lead the team in scoring with a career-high 13 points. Blankenship went 2-3 from three-point range, on a day in which Brockport shot 37% from the field and 25% from three.
Stephanie Jean-Baptiste and Hali Lucia each added 10 points for Brockport. Lucia was also responsible for five assists, a stat category in which she leads the team on the season. Jean-Baptiste made her presence known defensively, with three steals.
The Golden Eagles also took advantage of turnovers, scoring 12 fast break points compared to the Hawk’s four.
In last year’s series against New Paltz, Brockport went 0-2, which served as a motivator for this year’s team.
“Remember what happened last year,” Blankenship said. “Take it on the floor and try to turn it into something more positive, at the end of the day we still fought.”
The loss puts Brockport’s record at 5-2 and 1-1 in the conference. The Golden Eagles look to get a positive result in their non-conference matchup against Hamilton College on Wednesday. That game will be played at Hamilton with a tipoff time of 7 p.m.
“We want to take some lessons away from this one,” Jones said. “We want to have a short memory and bounce back on Wednesday.”
