The College of Staten Island stayed on pace with Baruch College on the road, but in the end the Bearcats used a big second half to score a 78-63 win in Manhattan tonight as part of CUNYAC play. The Bearcats stayed affixed atop the CUNYAC standings with a 15-0 conference mark (19-4 overall), while the Dolphins fell to 14-10 overall and 11-4 within the CUNYAC.
The teams went toe-to-toe in the first frame keep pace with one-another throughout. After trading a pair of leads, the Dolphins forced a pair of ties before a Samantha Flecker three gave the Dolphins a 20-19 lead with 8:41 to go in the stanza. In the recurring theme of the night, however, Baruch would have an answer, this time with an Iyana Abrams layup that put the home team back out in front, and they never trailed again.
After opening up a 9 point first half lead, CSI used a 9-2 run to close to 35-33, but Baruch powered to an 8-2 run to close the first half, going into the lockers with a 43-35 lead.
CSI opened up the second stanza by cutting Baruch’s lead to six, but in the most important stretch of the game, the Bearcats exploded for a 9-0 run to take a commanding, 54-39 lead with 14:55 to go. From there, CSI worked towards getting back into it, but they never came to within 12 of the CUNYAC defending champs. The Dolphins were plagued with 24 fouls called against them while committing 25 turnovers, still Baruch hurt themselves from the free-throw line, connecting on just 15-of-30 shots and they committed 27 turnovers as well.
Leading the way for the Bearcats was Abrams with 19 points and eight rebounds, while Francess Henry posted 12 points and a dozen rebounds. Veronica Ganzi posted 14 points. For CSI, they were paced by Christina Pasaturo’s 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Victoria Gallinaro finished with 13 markers. CSI was out-rebounded, 53-38, and shot just 33.3% to Baruch’s 45.3%.
The Dolphins will next face Lehman College in their regular season finale. It will be Senior Night at CSI, as the Dolphins will honor seniors Nikki Fabozzi, Megan Myhre, Jennifer Coughlan and Lisa Galasso. The game against Lehman will determine the Nos. 3 & 4 seeds in the upcoming CUNYAC Postseason Tournament, which begins on Saturday, February 21.
