By: Michael L. Damon
Box Score
New York, N.Y. --- Playing its final game of the 2008 calendar year, the John Jay women's basketball team lost a close one at home as the Bloodhounds were defeated by Ramapo College, losing to the Roadrunners, 51-45, in a contest at the Doghouse on Saturday afternoon.
The Bloodhounds got a career-high 15 rebounds to go along with eight points (on 4-for-8 shooting) from Janina Jurewicz-Johnson (New York, NY, Beacon School) in the contest, while sophomore guard Dominique Grice knocked in a game-high 16 points in the contest for the Bloodhounds.
The game was nip and tuck from the outset with neither team leading by more than five in the first half. The stanza saw seven ties and 12 lead changes in the first 20 minutes of action.
With John Jay trailing 15-13 at the 12:40 mark, the Bloodhounds went on an 8-1 run to grab a 21-16 lead, at the 9:15 point of the first half, on a jumper by Vanessa Rivera (Bronx, NY, Bronx Leadership Academy) who had 12 points off the bench and a game-high six assists.
But the visiting Roadrunners rallied back, and with John Jay still leading by five (23-18), Ramapo outscored John Jay 10-3 over the final 7:43 to go into halftime with a 28-26 lead.
In the second half, Ramapo used a spark midway through the stanza to establish a small cushion. The Bloodhounds took a 32-31 lead with just under sixteen minutes to go on a Jurewicz-Johnson jumper, before the Roadrunners used a 13-2 run to take its biggest lead of the game and led 44-34 with 6:50 remaining.
John Jay countered to get back into the contest and went on an 11-2 run to get to within one as the Bloodhounds trailed 46-45 with 2:04 to play capped on a lay-up by Grice.
But the Bloodhounds could not get over the hump as Ramapo scored the final five points of the contest to hold on for the win. John Jay was 0-for-2 from the floor, 0-for-2 from the line and committed one turnover in the final 124 seconds of action.
Zadoora Carson (New York, NY, Urban Peace Academy) contributed three blocks in the contest for John Jay.
Ramapo was led by Tiffany China with 14 points, while Lauren Michael chipped in off the bench with 12 and a team-high six rebounds.
Both schools were relatively even on intangibles with both teams scoring 16 points off turnovers and Ramapo held a slight edge on points in the paint (30-28).
John Jay returns to action in 2009 when they play Lycoming College in the opening round of the Lycoming College tournament on Fri. Jan 2, 2009 at 6 p.m.
