Staten Island, NY | The College of Staten Island Women's Basketball team stayed hot tonight, blowing open a tight contest with a strong second half against Hunter College, turning back the defending CUNYAC Champions, 77-58, for their 11th-straight win.  CSI lifted to 16-8 overall while the Hawks fell to 13-10.  The win for CSI avenged an earlier-season loss to Hunter, knotting the season series at a game apiece.

In what was a sluggish dogfight in the first half, CSI took a modest one-point lead into the locker room, but a strong shooting second half coupled with terrific defense led CSi to pull away late and put away the Hawks for their first win against the team since the 2017-18 season.

It was a game of runs, and Hunter started with a 5-0 run to start thanks to a Brooke DeGiulio lay-up and a three from Janine Conway.  CSI responded with a 14-2 run over the next five minutes, connecting on 57% of their first quarter shots.  Megan McEwan bagged a pair of threes in the run while Kayla Schmitter added a pair of baskets on the interior.  The teams traded baskets from there until a Diana Todaro lay-up in the closing seconds gave CSI their biggest least at the end of the first quarter, 20-12.

As crisp as the Dolphins were in the first quarter, they were as cold as ice in the second frame, and Hunter took the advantage wherever they could.  Kristina Arvelo would connect on a three to give CSI a 23-19 lead, but the Dolphins would make just one of their final 16 shots in the quarter, as Hunter slowly worked themselves back.  Mired in poor shooting themselves, Morgan Gress canned a three for Hunter to draw closer and after almost a three-minute stretch, Conway added a lay-up to cut the CSI lead to 27-24 with 2:26 to go.  Again CSI stalled and at 46 seconds left, Conway added a jumper to make it 27-26, the same score CSI would take into the locker room.

The requisite break proved beneficial for both sides as both teams started out firing on all cylinders in the third quarter.  The teams traded the first six baskets until CSi extended to a six-point lead, 38-32 on a Jada Rogers bucket.  A mini, 6-1, run by CSI later extended CSI to a nine point lead, 47-38, before CSI took a seven-point advantage, 51-44, to end the third quarter.  While Hunter then pressed to get back into the game, CSI found their scoring touch again in the fourth quarter, starting the final stanza on a 9-0 run, helped by interior baskets from Rogers and McEwan and strong free-throw shooting from Todaro and Brianna Robisky.

Janine Conway stopped the bleeding for Hunter College with a pair of freebies at 6:32, but CSi would then stage a 6-0 bender to put the game away, finalized by a Schmitter jumper that put the Dolphins up by their biggest lead, 69-48, with 4:48 to play.  By then, the only thing in doubt was the final, as CSI and the Hawks played even from there, resulting in a 77-58 final.

Leading the balanced attack for CSI was McEwan, who scored 18 points, adding six rebounds and a team-best four assists.  Schmitter finished with 16 points and nine rebounds while both Todaro and Rogers equaled 14 points.  Todaro banked a game-high 13 rebounds while Deidre Foster scored 10.  Conway led all Hunter scorers with 11 points, but connected on just 4-16 from the floor, while Phoebe Valenton totaled 10 points.  CSI shot 38.5% (25-65) while Hunter hit on 23-72 for just 31.9%.  CSI led the rebounding war 55-41, and both teams had just 12 turnovers.

Armed with their longest win streak since the 2004-05 season, the Dolphins will finalize their season next Tuesday, February 18, when they host Baruch College, at 5:30 PM.  CSI will honor their three seniors prior to tip-off in Diana Todaro, Elena Demontreux, and Lina Bitar.

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