The College of Staten Island women’s basketball team will host the Bearcats of Baruch College this afternoon at The Tank for the opening round of the CUNYAC Playoffs. Baruch College was able to best the Dolphins by two points in the final meeting of the season just three days ago. With the season record against Baruch knotted at one, the Dolphins will look to break the tie with a win on their home court to advance to the CUNYAC Semifinal round.
#3 CSI VS. #6 BARUCH COLLEGE AT-A-GLANCE
Matchup: CSI (18-7, 12-4 CUNYAC) vs. Baruch (8-14, 7-9 CUNYAC)
Where: The Tank – 2800 Victory Blvd., Staten Island, NY
Live Stats: https://csidolphins.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary
Live Video: www.csidolphins.com/csisportsnet
All-Time Series: CSI leads, 32-23
Last Meeting: February 13, 2019 – Baruch won, 74-72
Players to Watch (CSI): Kayla Schmitter put forth one of her best performances of the season in her last outing against the Bearcats, scoring 19 points and leading the team in the loss. Schmitter was extremely active around the rim, grabbing 9 rebounds and tallying 3 blocks. Diana Todaro picked up another double-double in that meeting against Baruch College, scoring 16 points while pulling down 13 rebounds. Todaro had quick hands on defense against the Bearcats as well, picking off five passes. For the season, Megan McEwan leads in both points per game, 14.4, steals per game, 2.2, and assists per game with 3.3. McEwan will hope for a better shooting performance after shooting just 4-of-14 from the floor on Wednesday. Cristina Camerlengo led the charge with three assists against the Bearcats and will need to dissect that defense again to advance to the semifinals.
Players to Watch (BC): Daniela Zirpolo scored a career-high 21 points on Wednesday, shooting 57% from the floor. Zirpolo also finished the game with 8 rebounds, with 3 of them coming on the offensive side. Melinda Spahiu was also able to pick apart the Dolphins’ defense to the tune of 21 points. Spahiu led the team with 9 rebounds and made sure the Dolphins didn’t have many second-chance opportunities. Spahiu found her open teammates easily in her last outing, collecting 7 assists. Frances Snyder was an efficient 4-of-6 from behind the arc against the Dolphins and will hope for a similar outing.
News & Notes: After cruising past the Bearcats earlier in the season, 78-49, the Bearcats were able to defeat the Dolphins in their second encounter. In the third act, these two teams will meet in the CUNYAC Quarterfinal round at The Tank where the Dolphins have recently dominated the Bearcats. Baruch’s win over the Dolphins snapped a five-game win streak in which the Dolphins had never scored fewer than 63 points. In fact, the Bearcats tallied 74 points for the first time since 2017 in a 77-71 win over the Dolphins. In CUNYAC Quarterfinal games against Baruch, the Dolphins are just 1-2 and 4-5 overall in the CUNYAC Playoffs. The last time these two teams met in the CUNYAC Playoffs came back in the 2009-10 season where Baruch defeated the Dolphins 82-62 in the semifinals.
