It certainly wasn’t pretty, but the College of Staten Island women’s basketball team ran their season-long winning streak up to 9 games, posting a 47-31 win over the City College of New York as part of CUNYAC play at the Nat Holman Gymnasium in New York, NY, this evening.  CSI improved to 16-3 overall and a perfect 11-0 in the conference with the win, while the loss dipped the Beavers down to 7-11, 4-7, respectively.

For the Dolphins, the win marked a triumph for the defense, as CSI held the Beavers to an ice-cold 15.3% from the floor and a 0-for-20 performance from beyond the arc, but the Dolphins were held in check themselves, producing their lowest scoring output of the season.

The going was tough early, as the Beavers scored the game’s first four points and held the advantage until a Katelyn Hepworth basket knotted the game at the 16:03 mark.  Those four points started a 20-0 run for the Dolphins over a harrowing eight minutes, as CSI got three-pointers along the way from Megan Myhre and Melanie Johnson to open up the lead and highlight the run.  The Dolphins would ultimately extend to as many as 22 points, 28-6 on another Hepworth jumper, before settling on a 33-13 halftime edge.

CSI was seemingly in full control, especially after holding CCNY to just a 5-33 shooting performance in the first half, but then the game got ugly for both teams.  Neither team could find their shooting touch in the game’s second half, and CSI fell victim to the turnover, committing 25 for the game, their second-highest single game total of the season.  Still mired in poor shooting, CCNY was also turning the tide on the glass, accumulating a total of 50 rebounds, including 21 on the offensive glass that helped extend the Beavers to 17 more shots in the game.  Fortunately for the Dolphins, CCNY connected on just 11 of their 72 shot attempts, and the lead was never really threatened.

CSI never led by less than 13 points during the second half and almost unbelievably, neither team scored a single point for the final 6:10.  During that stretch the teams combined to shoot 0-for-13 from the field, 0-for-7 from the free-throw line and committed a total of five turnovers and five fouls in what could arguably be the toughest stretch of basketball the Dolphins have been a part of this season.

Despite the less-than-spectacular numbers CSI got double-doubles from both Johnson (19 points, 14 rebounds) and Hepworth (14 points, 15 rebounds).  Myhre added 10 points for CSI, which shot 4-for-15 from the foul line.  CCNY was led by Bria Fisher’s 12 points, while Syreeta Williams added 10 points and 12 rebounds.

CSI will be back in action this Friday, hosting Baruch College at 5:30pm at the Sports & Recreation Center to continue their CUNYAC schedule.