The College of Staten Island women’s basketball squad saw their season-best five game win streak snapped tonight, as they fell on the road to William Paterson University by an 80-65 count in Wayne, NJ. The Pioneers evened to 5-5 with the win while the Dolphins fell to 7-3.
It was a big first quarter that got the Pioneers going and the home school hardly looked back. The home side ripped off a 10-0 run in the game’s first 1:14, powered by two Sihana Asani buckets, one of them a three-pointer. The Dolphins responded with a three-pointer from Christina Pasaturo, but after a lull in play, another Asani three started an 8-0 WPU run, and after the game’s first 3:20, the Pioneers had a commanding 18-3 lead.
From that point forward, CSI looked to wrestle momentum away and cut into the Pioneers lead but the frustrated Dolphins never could turn the corner. A lay-up by Rosa Perone cut the lead down to 10, 22-12, but a 6-0 response from WPU that carried into the second gave the Pioneers a 28-12 lead on a transition bucket by Ashley Castillo.
Later, WPU’s lead ballooned to 21 points, 39-18, before a solid 9-0 response got CSi within striking distance, powered by Angelique Price who sank all 9 points. Like the first quarter, CSI cut the lead to 11 with two minutes to go, but a 5-0 close by the Pioneers gave them a comfy 48-32 lead at intermission.
The Pioneers’ lead was never in doubt from there as they once again were able to match their game-high 21 point lead on a pair of occasions in the third stanza. Down to one last gasp of a run, another 9-0 spurt by the Dolphins in the early stages of the fourth quarter, a run that included seven points from Pasaturo, again closed CSI to within 13, 69-56 with just under seven minutes to play. The Pioneers, however, responded with an immediate 5-0 run of their own, and from there, the Dolphins never got to within 15 points, ultimately falling by that same number.
Asani led all with 19 points, adding five rebounds, while Tori Woetzel banked in 15 points on 5-6 shooting. The Pioneers shot 49.2% from the floor, including a 9-15 mark from behind the arc. CSI was led by Pasaturo’s 20 points and eight rebounds, while Price finished with 18 points. Victoria Crea finished with eight rebounds and six assists to go with 10 markers. The Dolphins shot 35.6% from the floor and shot an anemic 7-37 from behind the arc (19%).
The Dolphins will now be idle for a week before they host Manhattanville College at the Sports & Recreation Center on Wednesday, December 28, at 5:30pm.
