GENESEO, N.Y. – SUNY Geneseo senior forward Allison McKenna totaled team-highs with 12 points and nine rebounds but it was visiting New Paltz earning the 62-57 victory, Saturday, in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) women's basketball action in Schrader Gymnasium.

New Paltz (9-3, 4-1 SUNYAC) junior guard Kit Small scored a game-high 21 points, including 12 in the second half, while first-year guard Lindsay Bettke added 12 points, including a decisive three-pointer later in the game, as the Hawks handed Geneseo (7-3, 2-1) its first league setback of the season. 

Geneseo took an early 8-7 lead but the Hawks finished the first quarter out-scoring the Knights, 9-4, to build a 16-12 lead. Trailing, 20-14, at 8:36 of the second quarter, Geneseo used a 14-3 run over the next seven minutes to take a five-point lead. McKenna capped the run by blocking a New Paltz shot and converting a jumper from the top of the key in transition off a kick-out by senior guard Dana Cohan that made it a 28-23 lead that was 30-27 after two quarters of play. 

Geneseo started the second half with an 8-1 run finished by a lay-up by sophomore forward Katie Vienneau that made it a 38-28 lead with 5:45 on the clock. However, New Paltz scored 13 of the game's next 15 points to re-take a 41-40 lead at 1:15. A pair of free throws by junior guard Katie Durand and another by Cohen in the final minute put the Knights back on top, 43-41, at the end of the third quarter.

The New Paltz lead grew to 49-45 before a three-point attempt from Cohen bounced high off the front of the rim and into the basket to complete a 4-0 Knights' spurt that knotted the game, 49-49, at 6:51.

Tied, 55-55, following a Cohen free-throw with 2:43 to play, Bettke swished a three-point shot from the right corner at 2:13 that staked the Hawks to a lead it would not relinquish. A Vienneau lay-up with :21 on the clock pulled the Knights as close as two, 59-57, but it was the visitors converting 3-of-4 free-throw attempts in the final 20 seconds to seal the win. 

Geneseo kicks off a three-game road swing on Tuesday, traveling to Cortland for a 4:00 p.m. tip-off.