On the CSI Blackout Senior Night, the College of Staten Island women’s basketball team narrowly defeated Lehman College 58-52. With the win the Dolphins finished their regular season 15-10 overall and 12-4 in the CUNYAC while the Lightning fell to 16-9 overall and 10-6 in the CUNYAC.
Lehman led 12-4 with 14:00 remaining in the first half as the Dolphins were having trouble finding the bottom of the net due to 17% shooting and several turnovers that limited their scoring opportunities. The Lightning then had hardships of their own as the Dolphin crowd started to come alive and the women fed off of that energy which led to a 7-0 run of their own to bring them right back into the game.
The Lightning would then extend their lead back to four before they went ice cold and scoreless for 9 minutes. The Dolphins had a chance to open this game up and take a substantial lead but were unable to capitalize on Lehman’s unfortunate luck. The Dolphins had a scoring drought of their own and were held scoreless for four minutes towards the end of the first half.
Nikki Fabozzi tied the game up at 15 with 3:43 remaining and then gave the Dolphins the go ahead points with a layup one minute later. Fabozzi had a decent night, scoring seven points and grabbing 11 rebounds with a majority of the stats coming in the first half.
The Lightning came alive in the final moments of the second half scoring four points to head into the locker room down five, 24-19.
Both teams struggled from the floor in the first half, the Dolphins managed to shoot 29% from the floor while the Lightning shot a chilling 20.6% from the floor.
When the second have got underway it looked like it was going to be a repeat of the first half as neither team was able to find the bottom of the net until the 18:08 mark when Karrin Walker cashed in on her second free-throw shot.
There was much more action in the second half compared to the first as each team improved upon their dismal shooting from the first half which led to an exciting finish. CSI led by as much as eight in the second half before Lehman reduced the lead to six.
CSI would relinquish the lead with 8:11 remaining in the game when walker would hit a jump from the free throw line, giving her team a one point lead. The Dolphins would not allow the Lightning to pull away late in the game as Pasaturo would drain a shot from downtown to answer a three-point shot from Lehman to thwart their surge.
Megan Myhre led the way for the Dolphins tonight with her deep range and she cashed in when her team needed her most. Down one and losing momentum Myhre hit a three to give her team a two point lead which they would not surrender for the rest of the night.
Myhre finished with a team high 20 points and five rebounds while Pasaturo capped her night off with 9 points and three rebounds. Fabozzi finished with a season high 11 rebounds and seven points while Victoria Crea and Victoria Gallinaro added seven and 9 points respectively.
What’s Next?
On Saturday, February 21, CSI will head into the CUNYAC/Con-Edison Postseason tournament with the No. 3 seed and will play the No. 6 seeded John Jay College at 3:00 p.m. at the CSI Sports & Recreation Center. CSI swept the Bloodhounds in the regular season, with their most recent meeting ending in a 93-38 victory.