Box Score
New York, N.Y.— Behind a monstrous first half by
Jessica Lirio (Bronx, NY, St. Barnabas), the John Jay women's basketball team closed out the 2009-10 season with a win as the Bloodhounds defeated Medgar Evers College 74-66 in a game at the Doghouse on Monday.
Lirio had a career-high 33 points, 26 of which came in the first half, and John Jay never trailed in the contest. Fellow teammate
Chantelle Smith (Flushing, NY, Mary Louis Academy)added a career-high of her own with 18 points along with a team-high 10 rebounds for her third double-double of the season.
Dominique Grice (North Babylon, NY, North Babylon) chimed in with 14 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and seven steals for the Bloodhounds.
John Jay led by as much as 19 in the first half. The Bloodhounds opened the contest scoring the first five points of the game to take the lead early.
John Jay had a four point lead and was up 24-20 with 7:16 to play before going on a 17-2 run to take 41-22 lead and command of the contest. Lirio scored 12 points during that stretch and capped the run with a three-point field goal with 2:32 to play.
But that was the last field goal John Jay scored in the first half and the visiting Cougars closed the stanza on an 8-2 run and trailed at halftime 43-30.
Medgar Evers continued its resurgence into the second half and opened with a 15-2 run over the first five minutes (23-4 total) to tie the score at 45-45 with 15:13 left.
But the Cougars never took the lead and John Jay scored the next five points to go up 50-45 with 14:18 left.
Medgar Evers cut the lead down to one twice more, most recently with 4:24 to go to make the score 60-59. But with just over a minute gone by, and the Bloodhounds up by two,
Claire Prince (Wellington, FL, Summit Christian Academy) connected on a three point field goal to put John Jay back up by five (66-61) with three minutes to go.
The Cougars pulled to within three in the final minute and were down 68-65 with 36 seconds left. But John Jay went 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the final half-minute to preserve the victory, including 4-for-4 by Grice and 2-for-2 by Smith.
John Jay was 18-for-26 from the foul line in the contest.
Medgar Evers held a 51-39 edge on rebounds, but committed 34 turnovers to just 14, a season-low, for the Bloodhounds and John Jay held a 33-13 edge on points off turnovers.
Medgar Evers was led by
Tiffany Thompson with 28 points and 16 rebounds, while
Jaide Lewis had 18 points.
The Cougars shot 50 percent (27-for-54) from the floor in the contest.
John Jay held a 12-2 advantage on fast-break points.
