The College of Staten Island women’s basketball squad saw a quick end to their postseason tonight, falling to No. 4 seeded Lehman College as part of the quarterfinal round of the 47th Annual CUNYAC/Con Edison Championship, 74-58, in a game played at Hostos Community College.  The loss ends the Dolphins’ season with a record of 9-14, while Lehman improved to 15-11 and will advance into semifinal play on Wednesday against top-seeded Brooklyn College.

The Dolphins’ only lead of the game came in the early stages, as two straight baskets by Nikki Fabozzi gave the visitors a 5-2 edge at the 17:07 mark of the initial frame.  The lead was short-lived, however, as the Lightning fired back with two Leslie Mencia three-pointers that gave Lehman a lead it would never relinquish.  CSI would stay in the contest, keeping the game to within one possession before the home team finally rallied off an 8-0 run over three minutes to take a comfortable 20-11 lead with 10 minutes to play in the stanza.

CSI would later cut the Lehman lead to three, 22-19, on a Katelyn Hepworth lay-up, with just over seven minutes to go, but again Lehman was able to bounce back, this time using a 14-2 run over the last six minutes to take their biggest lead of the game to that point, 36-21.

The run continued into the second half, as another pair of Mencia long-balls helped the Lightning to a 10-2 opening and a commanding, 44-23 edge with just over 16 minutes to play.  From there, it was smooth sailing for Lehman, as CSI, plagued by a 29% shooting performance for the game, could only manage to chip the Lightning lead down to as few as 19, before eventually finishing the game on a 7-0 run, to bring the game a bit closer.

Lehman was led by Mencia’s 24 points, while Amanda De La Cruz finished with 21.  Shalaya Nieves and Alicia McDaniel finished with 12 and 11 rebounds, respectively, as Lehman held the overall rebounding advantage by a huge 53-29 count.  CSI saw a team high 21 points from junior Olivia Tierno, while Hepworth added 16.

CSI’s season will finish at 9-14, having dropped their final four games to the season.  All of the top four seeds won their quarterfinals.  Lehman faces Brooklyn at 6pm on Wednesday in their half of the quarters, while No. 2 Baruch College will take on No. 3 Hunter College in the other semifinal at 8pm.