Staten Island, NY | Down in the fourth quarter, the College of Staten Island women’s basketball team used a late surge to roar past the City College of New York, 63-58, as part of CUNYAC play at The Tank. Trailing for a good stretch, the Dolphins ripped off their fourth-straight win, advancing to 14-4 overall and 8-1 within CUNYAC play. The Beavers dropped to 9-8, 5-4, respectively.
A heavily-contested first quarter opened play and set the stage for how the game would go a majority of the way. CSI held the lead most of the way, with inside drives by Diana Todaro, Kayla Schmitter, and Rosa Perone giving the home team an early, 6-2 advantage. An Elizabeth Zullo three-pointer would later knot the score at 10-10 nearly seven minutes in, and Debra Chan would give CCNY their first lead at 14-12 with 1:59 to go in the first.
To close the first, however, CSI finished on a 5-0 run, as Cristina Camerlengo sank a three and Schmitter added an inside lay-up to stake CSI to a 17-14 lead at the end of a frame.
Over two minutes into the second quarter, CCNY grabbed the lead back on a Crystal Blair drive, and from there, the Beavers led the rest of the first half. The team led by as many as five, 28-23, on another Chan lay-up, before CSI closed to 32-28 at the break, using fice-straight Jacquelyn Cali points to draw closer.
As CSI struggled from the floor to open the second half, CCNY got out to a 37-30 edge on a Madison LaSalle lay-up, but CSI countered nicely with a Cali three, and then Todaro scored back-to-back baskets to tie the game up three minutes into the frame. From there, the teams parried back and forth, tying the score four times with three lead changes before CSI was able to take a slim 47-46 edge at the end of the third.
Aaliyah McCrae opened the fourth with a driving lay-up for CCNY to make it 48-47, but from there, CSI reached back and smothered the Beavers defensively while going on a 10-0 run over the next four minutes. The Beavers went 0-3 from the floor with four turnovers in the stretch and CSI did most of their damage at the free-throw line, canning seven of the 10 points at the line while Cali started it with a three.
Melanie Torres finally stopped the bleeding for CSI with a free-throw of her own at 5:01 to make it 57-49 in favor of CSI, but from there neither team could seem to score, as the Beavers misfired on their next three shots. CSI opened up their biggest lead with just 2:04 to go, 59-49, on a Schmitter lay-up, and even though CCNY finished on a 9-4 run, the Dolphins were able to ice the game at the line to continue to stay hot on the season.
CSI was led by Schmitter’s big day, as the freshman tallied 21 points and 10 rebounds. Cali’s 13 points and six assists also paced CSI, while Todaro posted 12 points. CSi shot just 17.4% from the arc, but were crisp from the foul line, canning 11-of-14 for 78.6%. CCNY was led by Chan’s 16 points while Blair was an impact, finishing with 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds with four assists. McCare also finished with 11 points.
Winners of four in a row and six of their last seven, CSI will take to the road in their next battle, traveling to John Jay College on Wednesday, January 23, at 6pm.
