The College of Staten Island women’s basketball squad got back on the winning side of the ledger, defeating New Jersey City University on the road, 50-47, in non-conference play.  The Dolphins used a late surge with just over four minutes to go to take the lead en route to the win.  The Dolphins improved to 3-2 on the season, while the Gothic Knights fell to 0-3.

CSI ripped off the first six points of the game, pulling ahead 9-2 at the 15:05 mark after a three-point goal by Nicole Quattrocchi.  From there, NJCU worked themselves a 13-4 run over the next seven-plus minutes, spearheaded by a pair of Luisa Montalvo buckets, the last a three-pointer to give NJCU a 15-13 lead.  From there, CSI knotted the game up twice but an 8-0 run by the home team, finalized by a Nidia Carmona fast-break layup gave NJCU their biggest lead at 25-17 with 2:40 to go.  CSI ended the half on a 7-2 run when Victoria Donegan drained a basket with a tick left to cut NJCU’s lead down to 27-24 at intermission.

The lead changed hands a pair of times in the second half before NJCU scored their biggest lead in the stanza, 35-31 on a Gabrielle Rivera jumper with 15:53 to go.  With plenty of time, CSI used a crisper-shooting second frame to whittle the lead until finally CSI knotted the game up at 41-41 with 3:11 to play.  It ended up being a part of an 8-0 run by the Dolphins, as Katelyn Hepworth nailed a three to give CSI a 46-41 edge with 1:52 to go.

After trading a pair of points, a layup by Montalvo and a jumper by Delia Chemez cut CSI’s lead to 48-47 with 20 seconds to play.  After CSI inbounded successfully, NJCU was forced to foul, and sophomore Rachel Rosado drained both freebies to give CSI the three-point edge, 50-47.  NJCU never did get a final shot off, as CSI hung on for the win.

CSI was led by Hepworth’s 14 points and 14 rebounds, followed by Quattrocchi’s 10 markers off of the bench.  NJCU’s Montalvo led all scorers with 17 points.  NJCU held a steady edge on boards, 56-44, but shot just 26% (19-73) from the floor, next to CSI’s 32.3% (20-62).

CSI will introduce the CUNYAC portion of their schedule next, when they host York College on Thursday evening at 5:30pm, part of CSI doubleheader.