New York, NY - The women's basketball team hosted the Mariners of the United States Merchant Marine Academy in a non-conference contest earlier this evening. Playing from behind from the get-go, the Purple and Gold found themselves down by 16 in the final quarter and made a valiant effort to pull within six with less than two minutes to play, but came up short and fell by a score of 74-65. With the loss, the Hawks slip to 1-4 while the Mariners advance to 2-0.

Janine Conway led the attack once again with a 23 point, five rebound performance while Jade Aponte came up big in the second half, scoring 11 of her 16 points in the last 20 minutes of the game. Theresa Leung and Phoebe Valenton chipped in with a combine 17 points.

Hunter stayed within striking distance for most of the first quarter and even went ahead by a point after Ashley Arias made a layup in the paint with 2:08 showing on the clock. However, the visitors closed on a 7-0 run to head into the second quarter up by six. The Hawks erased the deficit and went ahead once again on an Aponte made triple by the midway point. Over the ensuing five minutes, the teams would trade the lead seven times but once again, the Mariners closed on a 7-0 run to go up 34-28 by halftime.

The Hawks opened up the third with an 11-6 run which was bookmarked by triples from Leung and Selina Lim to bring their team within one point. The Mariners struck back with an 11-3 run of their own to close the third, setting the hosts back 12 points heading into the final quarter. The deficit grew to as much as 16 but it did not deter the Purple and Gold. They valiantly fought back and clawed to within six with 1:49 left to play. However, it would be insufficient as USMMA held on over the final minutes to serve the Hawks their fourth loss of the season.

The women's basketball team returns to action on Friday, November 30 when they open up CUNYAC play with a 6pm contest at Megar Evers College.