Top-seeded College of Staten Island women’s basketball made its initial mark into the CUNYAC/Con Edison Women’s Basketball Tournament a successful one, powering by #8 York College, 98-48, as part of quarterfinal action today at the Sports & Recreation Center.  CSI lifted to 20-6 overall on the season, while the Cardinals finalized at 3-23.  CSI will move on to the CUNYAC Semifinals this Wednesday, where they will face #4 Hunter College at CCNY’s Nat Homan Gymnasium at 6pm with a trip to the CUNYAC Championship on the line.

CSI’s Victoria Gallinaro wasted no time in putting points on the board as she drove straight to the basket for an uncontested layup to start the game and the Dolphins were rolling from there..  The Cardinals had the press on the Dolphins from the start of this game to try and suppress the potent Dolphins offense but players like Melanie Johnson started this game on fire as she hit three straight jumpers to give the Dolphins a 10-0 lead.

The Cardinals finally scored at the 16:45 mark with a fast break layup which made the score 12-2.  The Cardinals’ press started to work as they were able to cause four turnovers over the first four minutes which led to six York points.  CSI was able to weather the storm however, as Megan Myhre was able to enter the score sheet with 14:52 remaining as she hit a three-point shot to put the Dolphins up 19-6.  CSI’s stiff defense was able to cause 10 turnovers through seven minutes of play, and hold the Cardinals to just 20% shooting.

Ultimately, the York press would fail as CSI went streaking in for uncontested layups, opening up the game.  Back-to-back steals for Gallinaro and two fast break layup extending the Dolphins’ lead to 36-8 at one point and Gallinaro hit a three from the corner with 4:17 remaining to give the Dolphins a 48-11 lead over the Cardinals.  The Dolphins went into halftime up 56-19.  Gallinaro led CSI in scoring with 14 points while Nikki Fabozzi led in rebounds with six.  CSI was able to cause York to turn the ball over an astounding 25 times in the first half, and scored 36 points off of the turnovers.  York was held to a bone chilling 18.5% shooting from the floor (5-27) and shot 8-23 from the free-throw line.

The Cardinals came out in the second half shooting much better as they scored three straight three-pointers from Nia Rene giving York 28 points.  Gallinaro, who was shooting 78% (7-9) from the field, came down the floor and hit her third three-pointer of the game.  Myhre followed suit, hitting yet another three with 13:15 remaining giving her six total treys for 18 points.

Although the Cardinals were much improved in the second half as they cut down their turnover significantly, the Dolphins played with the same intensity as they did in the first, continuing to move the ball, spreading out the scoring and ultimately finishing with 98 points, their second-highest score output of the season.

Five of the Dolphins’ players scored double digit points.  Nikki Fabozzi finished the game as the MVP as she had a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds.  Alyssa Carlsen finished the game with 15 points and seven rebounds, Victoria Gallinaro had 17 points along with 7 assists. Megan Myhre dumped in 20 points and Melanie Johnson was able to score 12 points to help lead the Dolphins.

With the win the Dolphins extended their winning streak over York to eight games, and improved their overall playoff record against the Cardinals to a perfect 6-0.  

Up next for the Dolphins will be #4 Hunter, who scored an 84-59 win over #5 Lehman College earlier this afternoon.  That game will be played at 6pm at CCNY on Wednesday.  In other quarterfinal action today, #2 Baruch College defeated #7 CCNY, 87-54, and #3 Brooklyn College out-did #6 John Jay College, 54-36.  On Wednesday at 8pm, #2 Baruch will face #3 Brooklyn.  The winners of the two semifinal games will meet on Friday evening, February 28, for the CUNYAC Championship at 6pm.