New York, NY - For the first time since 2014, the Hunter women's basketball team will play in the championship game of the CUNYAC Tournament; and it will be on their home court in front of their home crowd. Earning the #1 seed, the Hawks (17-9, 15-1 CUNYAC) will play host to the #2 Bulldogs of Brooklyn College (19-7, 14-2) this Friday at the Sportsplex with a tip-off time of 5:30pm.
 
Previous Meetings
Hunter's only conference loss came at the hands of Brooklyn College back on January 3 when the Bulldogs won by a score of 62-51 in Brooklyn. The Purple and Gold extracted revenge when their foes visited the Upper East Side on January 25 by way of a 69-53 victory.
 
Hunter in the CUNYAC Finals
The Hawks have 20 CUNYAC Final appearances under their belt and eight of them have resulted in Championships. During the span from the 1997-98 season through the 2003-05 season, Hunter was dominant, appearing in all eight championship games and taking home five of them. Since then, they played for the title only two other times.
 
Team Offensive Output
The Purple and Gold have scored 1,951 total points and averaged 75.0 points per game; both of which are tops in the CUNYAC. Additionally, they have made more field goals (686) and have a higher field goal shooting percentage (.405) and three-point shooting percentage (.350) than anyone in the conference. Another weapon in their offensive arsenal is their ability to shoot efficiently from the charity stripe. They have made (392) and attempted more tries and have the best percentage (.698) from the free throw line among their competitors.
 
Impact Players
Senior guard, Jade Aponte, was named the 2019 CUNYAC Player of the Year. During the regular season she led the conference in scoring (18.4 ppg), while ranking second in the league in shooting from beyond the arc (33.9%) and steals per game (3.5). She started in 24 games, scoring in double figures in all but two.
 
Junior guard/forward Janine Conway was named to the 2019 CUNYAC All-Star First Team, having averaged 14.2 points in 30 minutes per game in the regular-season. She shot 86.4 percent (38-of-44) from the foul line to lead the team.
 
Junior guard Theresa Leung was named to the 2019 CUNYAC All-Star Second Team. She is a three-year starter who had the best assist/turnover ratio (1.8) in the league. Leung averaged 8.9 points per game and led the Hawks with 75 assists in the regular-season.
 
Coaching
Fifth-year head coach, John Garrett, was named the 2019 CUNYAC Coach of the Year, leading his squad to a 15-1 record in league play (16- 9 overall). His team won the regular season title for the first time since 2004 (North Division). Garrett has guided his team to post season play in each of his five years. Including the semi-final game a few days ago, his CUNYAC playoff record stands at 4-4.
 
Scouting Brooklyn
The Bulldogs are no strangers to the CUNYAC finals, having made an appearance in seven of the last eight championships. They have two titles in their program's history; the first ever in 1980 and most recently, last year. They check in as the #2 seed and sport a 19-7, 14-2 CUNYAC mark. Brooklyn is led by Alex Lang who, in his 17^th season, has made his squad a staple in the CUNYAC finals over the last five seasons.
 
Bulldog Attack
Brooklyn has four players that average double digit scoring and are led by First Team All-Star, Chanel Jemmott who boasts 15 points and 10.6 rebounds per contest. Taylor George and Alexandra Moogan, both CUNYAC All-Stars combine for 27.1 ppg while Jasmine Hansgen rounds out the quartet with a 10.3 ppg average. The squad has won by an average margin of 16.8 points.
 
Fan Guide to the Game
Tip-off at the Sportsplex is scheduled for 5:30pm. Tickets to the Championship are free but must be obtained prior to entry at Hunter. Click here for tickets. Follow along with live stats and if you can't make the game, be sure to watch all the action on the live webcast.