The College of Staten Island women’s basketball team got off to a fast start and never looked back, scoring a defensive, 63-50, win over Baruch College on the Bearcats’ home floor to run their season-long win skein to seven games.  The Dolphins got even with the Bearcats as both teams won on the others floor and by virtue of the win the Dolphins kept their one game lead atop the CUNYAC standings intact.  CSI improved to 15-4 overall and 10-1 in the CUNYAC, while Baruch fell to 8-10, 7-3, respectively.

A three-pointer by Shannon Barrett gave the home team a quick, 3-2, edge to start off play, but CSI’s Samantha Flecker canned a three of her own, adding a pair of rebounds to stake the Dolphins to a 7-3 lead.  Later, a 6-0 CSI run, powered by two Rosa Perone buckets gave CSI a 13-5 edge.  The Bearcats would cut the lead to 15-11 with 2:30 to go in the opening quarter, but CSI responded with a 9-3 run to close the quarter, highlighted by back-to-back three’s from leading scorer Christina Pasaturo, and another by Victoria Crea.

CSI essentially never looked back.  The Dolphins immediately scored the first three points of the second quarter, and after a BC basket by Veronica Ganzi, Crea fired in another long range missile to put CSI up by 15 points.  From there, the teams traded baskets.  The Dolphins went up by as many as 16 on two occasions before settling into a 38-24 halftime edge.  To that point, the Dolphins were holding Baruch to under 30% from the floor and were enjoying a huge, 29-13, edge on the glass.

Baruch was able to start better in the second half, using a quick, 5-0, spurt to cut the Dolphins lead to 38-29, three minutes in.  Pasaturo then followed, however, with a three-point play, and after a BC miss, she banked a three to put CSI ahead by 15 once again.  From there, BC was able to cut the lead to 11 on a pair of trips, but each time CSI fired back, taking a 51-38 lead after three stages.

Down 13, CSI let its defense dictate from there, and Baruch would only score 12 in the stanza, matching CSI’s own output.  A 6-0 BC run again cut CSI’s lead to single digits, but this time Flecker responded with a big lay-in and then after a pair of fouls, Flecker and Pasaturo drained freebies to swing momentum fully back to CSI, eventually leading to the 63-50 final margin.

CSI was led by Pasaturo’s 23 points, and she added 12 rebounds and five assists in the effort.  Flecker finished with 16 points and tied a career high with 16 rebounds.  Rosa Perone ended with eight points and 11 boards.  BC was paced by Ganzi’s 17 points, adding five rebounds, while Barrett finalized with 10 points and a massive 18 rebounds.

CSI shot just 30.1% for the game, but held BC to just 30.9% and a 14% clip from three-point range (2-14).  The Dolphins finished with a 60-35 edge in rebounds and forced 18 Baruch turnovers.

The Dolphins will next play on Saturday, when they host York College at 3:00pm at the Sports & Recreation Center.