New York, NY – The women's basketball team hosted their downtown CUNYAC rivals, Baruch College, earlier this evening at the Sportsplex in front of the homecoming crowd. Plagued by troubles from the floor, the Hawks had to play catch-up from the start but were never able to pull even with the Bearcats in the stretch, ultimately losing the game, 79-50. The loss drops the Purple and Gold to 2-4 overall, 0-2 in CUNYAC competition.
Widly Couloute had a big double-double with 17 points and 16 boards; her third of the year.
Jade Aponte tallied 11 points with nine of them coming from behind the arc. She accounted for three of the team's four three-pointers.
Ayanna Hudson contributed four points but grabbed 10 rebounds on the evening.
The Hawks connected on just 17 shots on 72 attempts from the floor and sunk just four total three pointers while going 12-18 from the charity stripe. Meanwhile, they allowed 30 points off of 22 turnovers and gave up 30 in the paint.
The Purple and Gold stayed within a five-point reach of their counterparts for the majority of the first half but pulled even with them at 9-9 after a third chance on the offensive end with a layup from Couloute. Baruch closed out the final 2:35 with a 6-1 run, putting Hunter back into a five point hole heading into the second quarter.
Hunter was held scoreless through the initial three minutes of the second quarter, missing their first four shots which resulted in a 13 point lead held by Baruch. The Purple and Gold continued to struggle from the floor and were unable to knock down a jumper until seven and a half minutes in when Couloute finally broke the silence. Of the Hawk's 18 second quarter points, 16 of them were scored in the final 3:40.
The deficit ballooned to 28 points in the third and despite playing on a more level playing field in the final quarter, their efforts were not enough as they fell by a final score of 79-50.
Hunter returns to action on Tuesday, December 8 when they take on the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, NY at 7pm.
