New York, N.Y.— The John Jay women’s basketball program tied a program record by earning their 17^th win of the season (17-10 in 2003-04), en route to clinching second place in regular season conference play by defeating the College of Staten Island 76-65 at the Doghouse on Friday evening.

 

The win improves John Jay to 17-8 (10-3 CUNYAC), as they closed out their 2006-07 regular season schedule, while the College of Staten Island is now 10-14 (8-4 CUNYAC).

 

Lashannen Hogue (Yonkers, NY/ Roosevelt) poured in 27 points in the win to go along with nine rebounds and four steals, while Vanessa Rivera (Bronx, NY/ Bronx Leadership) had 19 points, seven rebounds, and six assists for John Jay.

 

The Bloodhounds shot 50 percent in the contest (31-for-62), including 56 percent in the second half (15-for-27) to secure the win.

 

Up by one (60-59) with 3:50 to play, John Jay used an 11-3 run to take a nine point lead (71-62 with 1:41 to play) for their biggest lead of the night, to put the game out of reach.

 

The Bloodhounds outrebounded the visiting Dolphins 47-34 in the contest, and got a game-high 10 rebounds from Melissa Escalera (Bronx, NY/ Adali E Stevenson) to go along with 11 points. She also contributed six assists and three steals in the win.

 

The much bigger Bloodhounds also dominated inside, outdoing the undersized Dolphins 44-18 on points in the paint.

 

Staten Island was paced by Nicole Estrada (Brooklyn, NY/ Bishop Kearney) with 29 points, while Jennifer Zuccaro (Staten Island, NY/ Curtis) pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.

 

John Jay will return to action on Sat. Feb. 17 to play either New York City Tech or Brooklyn College in a No.2 versus No. 7 matchup in the quarterfinal round of the 2007 Con Edison CUNYAC women’s basketball championship at 7 p.m. at the City College of New York.