New York, NY – Sophomore forward Andrea Buckham (Queens, NY/Flushing) recorded her second straight double-double scoring 16 points and pulled down 14 rebounds to help lead the Hunter College Hawks to their first victory of the season, downing the Bloodhounds of John Jay College 54-51 Friday evening in CUNY Athletic Conference women's basketball action at the Hunter Sportsplex on Homecoming Night.

Despite an early two point lead, the Hawks trailed for a majority of the first half, behind by as much as 11 points before cutting the lead to eight heading into halftime. However, the Hawks fought back in the second half and regained the lead four minutes in on a three-pointer from junior Joanna Balta (Astoria, NY/560 Lykgo), capping off an 11-2 run. Balta finished the game with a season high 13 points.

John Jay staged their own run to take a 43-40 lead behind the superb play of freshman guard Dominique Grice (North Babylon, NY/North Babylon) who led the game scoring with 22 points and eight rebounds before fouling out late in the second half.

The Hawks also got a big contribution from sophomore guard Shay Branch-El-Vielot (Cambria Heights, NY/Canarsie) who scored 13 points and added six rebounds and four blocks. Junior forward Parker Griffin (New York, NY/Bishop Kearney) was the only other Bloodhound to finish in double-digits, finishing with ten points.

The two teams would trade leads over the next several minutes, before a three from Balta put the Hawks up by two 53-51 with 2:39 left on the clock. Hunter would prevent the Bloodhounds from scoring a point the final 3:14 of the game.

The Hawks return to action on Thursday, December 13 when they host the Cougars of Kean University for a 6:00 p.m. game.