NEW YORK, NY -- The No. 2 women's basketball team fended off a late fourth quarter run to defeat No. 3 Baruch, 66-56, on Tuesday night in the semifinals of the CUNYAC postseason tournament at the Doghouse. With the win, the Bloodhounds advance to the CUNYAC Championship for the first time since 1996 and improve their record to 16-8 on the year. Baruch finishes the 2021-22 season with a 10-11 record.
The Bloodhound defense got off to an incredible start in the first quarter, holding Baruch to just five points on 2-15 shooting. John Jay was able to use its defense to get out to a nine-point halftime lead. The Bloodhounds followed that up with a blistering hot third quarter, highlighted by a beautiful reverse layup from freshman
Ashley Zeolla at the 5:12 mark of the period which capped a 10-0 John Jay run and gave the Bloodhounds a 17-point edge. John Jay's lead grew to as high as 24 points early in the fourth quarter thanks to a converted and-one from junior
Katie Healy and a free throw by freshman
Ayanna Edwards on the ensuing possession, but the Bearcats were not done fighting with their season on the line. Baruch used a 22-2 run late in the game to cut its deficit to just four points with under two minutes to go, but a clutch corner jumper from freshman
Ashley Nieves with 1:13 left put a stop to the run and helped ice the game for the Bloodhounds.
Zeolla had the best game of her young career for John Jay, matching her career-high with 20 points and grabbing a career-high 15 rebounds for a double-double. For the fourth straight game, the duo of Healy and junior
Bobbi Green also notched double-doubles, with Healy collecting 15 points and 11 rebounds and junior
Bobbi Green tallying 16 points and 12 rebounds. Freshman
Jordyn Ruiz added eight points and had three assists. Edwards chipped in six assists, three points, and three rebounds.
The Bloodhounds will be looking for their first CUNYAC Championship since 1992 on Friday, February 25 in a battle against #1 Brooklyn College at Nat Holman Gymnasium (CCNY). Tip-off is currently set for 5:30 p.m. Check out the conference's tournament central for more details at
bit.ly/3JKzV2p
