By: By Michael L. Damon
Box Score
New York, N.Y. --- The John Jay women's basketball team picked up its second win in a row to establish its first winning streak of the season as the Bloodhounds defeated New Jersey City University (NJCU), 58-52, in a non conference affair at the Doghouse on Monday evening.
John Jay, now 3-15, was led by
Dominique Grice (North Babylon, NY, North Babylon) with a game-high 25 points and team-high nine rebounds and four steals while playing the entire game. Fellow teammates
Tina Ogunleye (Islandia, NY, Central Islip) and
Parker Griffin (New York, NY, Bishop Kearney) also notched double-figures in scoring as Ogunleye knocked in 14 and Griffin 10.
NJCU saw four of its five starters score in double-figures to combine for 50 of the team's 52 total points, including a team-high 15 from
Ebony Cunningham, 13 from
Carolina Garcia, 12 from
Lashawn Overton and 10 from
Shayla Daniels. Daniels also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.
John Jay's six point win was the largest lead of the night for either team. The close game saw seven lead changes and eight ties.
Seven of the eight ties were in the first half alone. The visiting Gothic Knights established a five point cushion breaking a 20-20 tie with a 5-0 run to take their biggest lead of the first half, and NJCU maintained the lead for the remainder of the stanza and led 29-25 at halftime.
NJCU remained on top for the first five plus minutes of the second half. They led by as much as five once again, but John Jay, down 34-29 with 17:41 to play, went on an 8-2 run to reclaim the lead. The Bloodhounds grabbed a 37-36 advantage with 14:47 to go on a Grice lay-up.
The Gothic Knights went back up on their next possession on a pair of free throws by Garcia. But a jumper by
Jessica Lirio (Bronx, NY, St. Barnabas)next trip down gave John Jay a 39-38 lead with 14:08 to play and the Bloodhounds never trailed again. Lirio chipped in with nine points, five rebounds and three steals.
NJCU, despite never owning another lead, never fell too far behind either. The Gothic Knights pulled to within one point on five occasions, as John Jay's lead never swelled to more than three during the time span, which lasted more than 10 minutes.
The Gothic Knights pulled to with a point for the final time with 3:42 to play on a Daniels jumper to make the score 49-48. But John Jay used a 6-1 run to take a six point lead with 1:44 to go on another Grice lay-up.
NJCU got back to within three with a three point field goal by Garcia with 1:28 to play, but the Gothic Knights went 0 for 2 in the final minute and never edged closer.
John Jay doubled up NJCU 22-11 on points off turnovers and had twice as many second chance points outscoring them 14-7.
John Jay returns to action on Wed. Jan. 28 for a home contest against Baruch College at 5 p.m.
