New York, N.Y.- The Hunter College women's basketball team defeated cross-town rival, Baruch at the Battle of Lexington in the ARC Arena on Thursday evening. The Hawks' 69-63 victory puts both teams at 6-4 in conference, tied for third place as the end of the regular season approaches.

The two teams were evenly matched for much of the game, starting off as the two teams exchanged points as the first quarter closed out at 12-12. The Bearcats scored six straight to open up the second quarter, the largest lead of the game thus far, but the Hawks responded quickly and took back the lead minutes later. The game featured eight lead changes, and the remainder of the half was no different, as the rivals went point-for-point. A late and-1 opportunity for Baruch gave the home team a slim 26-27 lead heading into halftime.

Baruch put together a short run in the third, up 41-35 with under four minutes on the clock, as the Hawks recovered quickly to even the score with 1:06 left in the period. Hunter outscored the home team 17-16 in the quarter, but the Bearcats held onto a single point lead at 45-44 heading into the final quarter. 

The fourth opened up with a jumper followed by a three from Erin Cosio to put the Hawks back in front, a lead they held for the remainder of the night. The largest lead of the game came at 4:36 with a field goal from Alexa Charles to put Hunter up by seven, highlighting the competitiveness from start to finish. A four point play for Baruch put the team back in reach, at 66-63 with 52 seconds left to go, but Hunter hit three of four free throws for the remainder of the game to run away with the 69-63 win and bragging rights in the long time rivalry.

Hunter shot 40.9% overall and 23.1% from three-point range, while knocking down 81.8% from the line, while Baruch was held to 29.9% from the field, 32.3% from beyond the arc and 72.2% from the line. Charles led the Hawks with another double-double with 26 points and 11 rebounds. The 1,000-point scoring sophomore also dished out six assists, while grabbing a pair of steals in the win. Makkedah Murray and Cosio each added 12 points on the night, with Murray grabbing three steals as well, while Katie Burke added seven points and six rebounds.

The Hawks return to the court on Feb. 7 for a 5:00 p.m. game at CCNY.