The College of Staten Island women’s basketball squad saw their season-long 11-game win streak halted, as Brooklyn College outscored the Dolphins, 28-10, en route to an 83-71 win as part of CUNYAC play in Brooklyn, NY. The Dolphins fell to 19-5 overall and 13-2 in the CUNYAC while the Bulldogs ran their records up to 17-5, 12-2, respectively.
After falling behind early, the Dolphins were able to wrestle their first lead of the game late in the first quarter, but not before BC took a 16-7 lead, guided by a 7-0 run that featured a three by Lauren D’Agostino and a lay-in by Alexandra Moogan. CSI responded with a 10-0 run, powered by four-straight Samantha Flecker points and another four from Victoria Crea. That gave CSI a 20-18 lead, and the Dolphins would ultimately take a 25-22 lead at the end of the first quarter.
CSI would extend the lead to 30-22 on a three-pointer by Christina Pasaturo and from there CSI would temper the lead, never leading by less than five points. CSi took their biggest lead at the 3:05 mark, using another Pasaturo three to extend to 41-30. CSi would not score again, however, and Brooklyn would score the final four markers to cut the lead to 41-37 at the break.
The Dolphins came out sharp in the second half, and a three by Angelique Price gave CSI a 48-36 edge early on. Later, another Flecker three gave CSI a 53-38 edge and the Dolphins seemed to be on their way to victory. But BC had other plans and a Moogan three started a 15-2 run for BC as they cut the lead to just 55-53. Consecutive three’s from Flecker and Crea were a nice response from CSI and the Dolphins were able to take a 61-55 lead going into the final 10 minutes.
After extending to seven points, however, the Dolphins would hit a brutal cold spell, as Brooklyn used high pressure defense and punishing interior rebounding to turn the tide. CSI was limited in their shooting, and although benefiting with free-throw shooting, the Dolphins shot just 3-13 in the final frame from the line to aid in the Brooklyn comeback.
Down by one, the turning point came when BC’s Olivia Colbert first gave BC the lead at 3:28 at the line, and CSI followed with a pair of misses from the field and four straight missed free-throws. Maya Ajee-Thomas followed with a bucket and was fouled. A protest then resulted ina CSI technical foul. Taylor Gallagher made both ends of the technical free-throws and then Ajee-Thomas missed her free-throw but BC was able to trace down the rebound and Moogan buried a lay-up to make it 73-66 at 1:39, essentially icing the game.
BC shot 43% from the field to CSI’s 35% and the Bulldogs owned a massive 62-30 edge in rebounds. BC was led by Karen Mak’s 19 points and seven rebounds, while Colbert secured 12 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Pasaturo would finish with 20 points and six rebounds while Flecker added 17 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
The Dolphins will now close out the regular season with their final game on Friday against Lehman College at 5:30pm. The game could go a long way to determine the CUNYAC Regular Season Championship and the top seed in the CUNYAC Championship Postseason Tournament.
