Nikki Fabozzi scored seven assists and seven steals in the game.

The College of Staten Island women’s basketball team got off to a fast start, then cruised the rest of the way, scoring a 79-47 win over visiting City College of New York as part of CUNYAC plat this evening at the Sports & Recreation Center. The Dolphins improved to 11-9 overall and 8-3 in the CUNYAC with the win, while the Beavers fell to 4-15, 4-8, respectively.

A three-pointer by Melanie Johnson on CSI’s first shot of the game just 17 seconds in set the tone, as the Dolphins blitzed to a 14-4 lead over the game’s first six minutes. Megan Mhyre would add another trey while Olivia Tierno canned a pair of fast break lay-ups as well. After a two and a half minute spell that saw the teams exchange field goals, CSI raced out to another 12-0 run, this time spanning four minutes, giving the home squad a commanding 28-6 lead with just over eight minutes to play in the stanza.

The Dolphins would eventually go up by as many as 32 points, 46-14, in the opening frame, guided by a 14-4 run which was spearheaded by a pair of Lisa Galasso lay-ups and a three-ball by Sara Gugliucci. At the half CSI held a 46-17 advantage.

The second half was an exercise in CSI playing fundamental basketball, maintaining their lead and giving many of their non-starters a chance for quality minutes. CSI raced to a 10-2 run to open the frame, powered by a Tierno three and a pair of Nikki Fabozzi steals. The teams stayed even from there, with the Dolphins concentrating on amping up the defensive pressure to the tune of 33 CCNY turnovers, which led to 18 fast break points.

Tierno led the way for CSI with 15 points in 21 minutes. Johnson finished with 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Fabozzi led CSI with seven assists and seven steals, as CSI had 17 steals overall. CCNY saw 14 points from Syreeta Williams, while Latoya Lee notched 10 markers. CCNY shot a crisp 61% in the second half (11-18), but were out-rebounded by the Dolphins, 36-26, overall.

CSI will return to action on Friday, when they travel to face Baruch College in Manhattan at 5:30pm.