Weekend comeback for Geneseo women’s basketball
Hannah Stockman shooting a 3-pointer against SUNY Oneonta on Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023 (Photo Courtesy of GeneseoKnights.com).
Geneseo’s women’s basketball team hosted two games this past weekend. On Friday, Dec. 1, the Knights welcomed New Paltz for their first State University of New York Conference (SUNYAC) matchup of the season.
The game started in the favor of New Paltz, but Geneseo quickly generated their spark with multiple successful free throws from senior guard Kiley Snow and freshman forward Audrey Hintz. Senior forward Kerry Dennin followed with an excellent jumper in the paint. Hintz and Dennin also sank several contested layups. Their efforts provided the team with a 15-13 lead when the buzzer went off at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Knights kept the lead until the nine-minute mark when New Paltz went on a multi-point run. With three-pointers by sophomore Maggie McGrane and layups by Dennin and freshman forward Kristin Suydam, the Knights began chipping away at the deficit. Ultimately, they were no match for New Paltz’s strong defense, as they went down 39-29 with two quarters left to play.
The next half showed promise as graduate guard Hannah Stockman hit a three-pointer to get the momentum moving back in the Knight’s favor. Their defense picked up as McGrane caused a turnover to give Geneseo possession and a basket. Snow quickly took in a rebound after a missed shot by New Paltz and brought it up the court for another made shot. With some steals from junior guard Mackenzie Reigle, Geneseo’s defense remained strong throughout the rest of the quarter, but New Paltz led 57-41 at the buzzer.
Reigle started the final 10 minutes of the game off with a powerful jumper two minutes in to keep the Hawks at bay. With more steals from McGrane and Reigle and good layups from Dennin and Reigle, the Knights held their own on the court. However, missed shots, fouls, and steals by New Paltz resulted in a loss for Geneseo, with a final score of 71-56.
On Saturday, Dec. 2, the Knights played at home again in a game against the Oneonta Red Dragons, which also served as “Pride Knight.” The event was hosted by the Geneseo Athletics Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee and provided the team with some encouragement as t-shirts were thrown into the stands each time a three-pointer was made during the game. Perhaps as a result of such encouragement, Geneseo pulled ahead of Oneonta and maintained a lead of at least ten points for most of the game. The Knights faltered towards the end, but held on amid their stress to win 63-50.
Geneseo put themselves on the scoreboard first with a three-pointer by Stockman, and the team went on to make seven three-point shots during the game. Their defense was strong throughout the game, as they successfully stole the ball, brought in rebounds, caused turnovers, and blocked aggressively. Dennin and Snow led their defensive strides with clean rebounds to keep Oneonta an arm’s length away from scoring. A free throw by Snow off of a powerful fastbreak sent the squad into halftime with a 40-21 lead.
In the third quarter, Geneseo was awarded a multitude of free throws and made the majority, to secure the team with the lead for the entirety of the game. In the fourth quarter, McGrane and Snow completed a series of impressive jump shots to end the second game of the weekend with a 63-50 win.
After an underwhelming performance against New Paltz, the Knights showed they are a tough team to beat and will look to continue winning as the season moves forward. January will prove to be a test of resilience, as they will take a substantial break in December before playing a dozen games throughout the month.