The City University of New York Athletic Conference / Con Edison Women’s Basketball Postseason Tournament continues tonight at the Nat Holman Gymnasium on the campus of The City College of New York, and the No. 3 seeded College of Staten Island Dolphins will be squaring off against familiar foe No. 2 Brooklyn College with a rights to a title appearance on the line. Tip-off is scheduled for 8pm, following a semifinal match between top-seeded Baruch College and No. 5 Hunter College. Tickets to the event are available free by clicking here and the game will be broadcast live via CSI SportsNet (audio only) at www.csidolphins.com/watch.
The Dolphins come into tonight’s semifinal showdown with Brooklyn by virtue of a 65-55 win over John Jay College in quarterfinal play at the Sports & Recreation Center. Alyssa Carlsen was named the game’s most valuable player, posting 11 points and six rebounds in her fifth start of the season. CSI’s Christina Pasaturo led CSI with 15 points. The Dolphins were an astounding +23 in turnover differential, forcing 27 errors to their four. Brooklyn College got past No. 7 York College by a 68-54 count in their quarterfinal date. Megan Campbell tallied 21 points in the win, followed by 17 points from Vanessa D’Ambrosi. The Bulldogs were a force on the boards, out-rebounding the Cardinals, 53-38.
No strangers, the Bulldogs and Dolphins are meeting for the 47th time tonight in their history, with CSI holding a 33-13 advantage. Despite that, this is only the fourth postseason meeting between the two sides. The teams have been meeting every other year in the CUNYAC Tournament since 2011. That year, BC mustered a 79-62 win in the quarterfinals. Two years later, and two years ago, they met in the semifinals, resulting in a 78-66 Bulldogs win. CSI has not defeated BC in Tournament play since the 2005 quarterfinal round, their first CUNYAC postseason meeting. At one point, the Dolphins had won 30 of the first 31 meetings between the two sides overall from 1982-2009. Since then, however, the Bulldogs have had the better of it, winning 12 of the last 15 meetings, including the only two this season.
CSI vs. Brooklyn has normally been a very defensive series. Barring overtime, the Dolphins have not scored over 70 points against Brooklyn in the last 14 games dating back to the 2008-09 season. When the Dolphins score more than 70 points in a game this season, they are a perfect 8-0, but are just 8-10 when they do not. On Saturday, the Dolphins held John Jay to just 55 points, improving the Dolphins to 11-0 this season when holding opponents under 60. In fact, the Dolphins have won their last 36 games when holding the opposition to under 60 points. Forcing turnovers has also been the team’s calling card this season. The Dolphins are +7.0 in turnovers per game, and the Dolphins are 7-2 in games where they commit less than 15 turnovers. The Dolphins will also be looking for a better performance in the rebounding column. CSI is 7-0 this season when out-rebounding their opponents, but were unsuccessful in their two tries against Brooklyn this season. In fact, CSI’s minus-26 rebounding differential in their meeting against the Bulldogs on January 30 was their worst mark of the season.
The Dolphins are hoping to overturn a six-game losing streak in CUNYAC Postseason Semifinal play. It’s their longest skid in any round of the tournament since its inception in 1982. Brooklyn won both regular season meetings this year, taking a 66-59 win at the Sports & Recreation Center before winning in Brooklyn by a 69-52 count.
The winner of tonight’s semifinal will meet the winner of Baruch-Hunter on Friday, February 27, at 6pm at CCNY.
