New York, N.Y.- The Hunter College women's basketball team defeated no. 6 Lehman College at home on Saturday afternoon, 74-60 in the CUNYAC Championship quarterfinals. With the win, the Hawks advance to their third straight semifinals, set to be played on February 22nd against no. 2 John Jay, the game is scheduled to start at 6pm.

Hunter had four players in double figures, Freshman Alexa Charles led the Hawks with 22 points on 8-15 shooting, including 7 rebounds and 7 steals.  Sophomore Erin Cosio scored 15 of her 20 points from beyond the arc shooting a team best 5-10 from three.  Senior Nia Chung had her 7th double double in her last 9 games with 14 points and 10 rebounds.  Junior Katie Burke sparked the scoring off of the bench with 15 points and 7 rebounds, while senior point guard Kimberly Lau orchestrated the offense with 9 of the teams 24 assists.

Hunter was able to force the Lightning into 23 turnovers, while holding them to 14% shooting from 3 for the game.  Hunter had an advantage shooting 44% to Lehmans' 40% from the field and a 32% to 14% advantage from beyond the arc.  The Hawks also out rebounded the Lightning 40-24, including a 16-7 offensive rebound advantage.  

The game started out a back and forth affair with both teams taking a lead in the first quarter, Hunter going up by as much as 5 with a three from Kimberly Lau at the 4:18 mark of the first to go up 12-7.  Lehman never backed off and closed the quarter on a 10-4 run taking a 17-16 lead after the end of the first.  29 seconds into the second quarter Erin Cosio hit one of her 5 three's to put the Hawks back up by two, 19-17 and it was a lead they would never give up.  On a layup from Nia Chung with 3:45 left in the half Hunter went up by 8, but went cold the rest of the half, going into the locker room 33-29 up 4.

In the third quarter the Hawks steadily built the lead up with 12 on an Alexa Charles layup with 2:56 left to go, but Lehman and Brianna Barnes, who had a game high 31 points, chipped the lead back down to 2 at the end of the third quarter, 51-49.  With 3:52 in the game and Hunter up 2, Erin Cosio hit her last of her 5 3's that gave Hunter a 5 point lead, Hunter then got two defensive stops and went 1-2 from the free throw line to go up 6 with 2:09 to play.  Katie Burke hit a slashing Alexa Charles for an and one layup to go up 69-60.  Hunter was able to convert 3-4 final free throws down the stretch while holding Lehman scoreless to secure the win.

Hunter improves to 15-11 on the season and advances to the CUNYAC Semi-Finals, when they travel to #2 John Jay on Wednesday February 22nd, for a 6pm start.