New York, NY – Taking on the top team in the CUNY Athletic Conference south division tonight, the Hunter College Hawks came just two baskets short of handing the Dolphins of the College of Staten Island their first conference loss, falling 69-65 in women's basketball action Friday night at the Hunter Sportsplex.

Hunter stunned the Dolphins in the opening minutes, breaking out to an 11 point lead on a 16-5 run. The Hawks would extend their lead to 13 before a quick Dolphins spree would bring them to within five points with just under six minutes left in the half. Hunter would head into the intermission with a four point, 27-24 point lead behind the play of sophomore forward Andrea Buckham (Jamaica, NY/Flushing) who scored 14 of her game high 26 points in the initial stanza.

The tides would change early in the second half as the Dolphins looking to protect their unbeaten conference record, sparked a 14-2 run to take their first lead of the game. As the game seemed to be out of reach for the Hawks, they would surmounted a comeback behind the play of freshman guard Michelle Gatti (Brooklyn, NY/Christ the King) who scored ten of her 12 points in a four minutes time span to cut the Dolphins lead to just four, 47-43. Gatti had a similar run last Saturday against Brooklyn that helped propel the Hawks to a victory, but this would not be the case tonight as Staten Island sneaked away with a victory despite letting the Hawks get to within one point with just 32 seconds left in the game.

Staten Island had all five starters finish in double-figures, led by freshman forward Allie Shanahan (Staten Island, NY/St. John Villa) with 14 points and junior forward Megan Sullivan (Brooklyn, NY/St. Francis Prep) chipped in 11 points and ten rebounds.

Although the box score shows CSI with the points off turnovers advantage, 36-16, both teams were marred with giveaways, combining for 70 lost balls (CSI 23, Hunter 47). Hunter out rebounded the Dolphins 57-40 which helped lead to 18 second chance points.

Tonight's loss drops Hunter to 2-11 on the year and 2-3 in the CUNYAC, while Staten Island remains unbeaten with a 5-0 conference record and improve to 10-5 on the season. Hunter returns to action on Monday when they face possibly their toughest challenge all season in the #4 New York University in the first game of a non-conference doubleheader that starts at 5:00 p.m.