New York, NY – The women's basketball team got back on the winning track earlier this evening after defeating the College of Staten Island, 75-71. The Hawks used a 29 point third quarter to break the halftime knot and held off the charging Dolphins down the stretch in the final seconds. The win puts the Purple and Gold back over .500 at 7-6 and remain at 3-1 in CUNYAC action.
Theresa Leung and teammate
Kristina Krslovic had an even split of 32 combined points to lead the Hawks offensively. The duo did most of their damage from behind the arc, going 9-16 from three-point land. Hunter had scoring contributions from eight other players including
Janine Conway with 11 points and
Phoebe Valenton with nine. Defensively, they five blocks, 10 steals and forced 18 turnovers
The largest lead in the first quarter for CSI was four points, proving the opening 10 minutes was played fairly even. The Dolphins held a four-point lead after a triple from the Denise Priolo made 17-13. The Purple and Gold came back from a six-point deficit on two occasions and closed the half with a trey from Valenton and a made free throw from Krslovic to tie the game at 28.
Hunter's 29 point third quarter came courtesy of 10 field goals, of which nine were from deep. From behind the arc, they shot nearly 70 percent. Krslovic and Leung accounted for 23 of their team's points in the quarter. Krslovic drilled two back-to-back treys to end the third, putting her team up 57-51.
Despite holding an eight point advantage with 2:37 left in the game, thanks to a three pointer from
Morgan Gress, CSI came back to within one with 46 seconds remaining. Valenton made one of two from the charity stripe while
Madison LaSalle connected on her two attempts from the free throw line to seal the deal.
The Hawks return to the court on Friday, January 10 when they travel to the Bronx to compete against the Lightning of Lehman College. Tip-off is scheduled for a 5pm start.
*The game against CSI is not counted toward a CUNYAC contest due to the reclassification of the Dolphins transitioning into Division II
