New York, NY - The No. 2 seed John Jay women's basketball team's season came to a close on Friday evening at ARC Arena, the venue of the 2024 CUNY Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) women's basketball championship. The Bloodhounds fell 72-54 to the top-seed Brooklyn College Bulldogs.
 
Tonight's contest marked the third straight season in which these two programs were pitted against one another for the league's top prize.

John Jay concluded the season with 19-8 overall record and 12-2 league mark. The 19 wins are a single-season program record, as is the 12 conference victories, dating back to 1985-86. Brooklyn moves to 18-8 overall and secured their fourth straight league championship.
 
Graduate guard Kamryn Hammond concluded her illustrious Bloodhound career leading three in double-figures, as the Poughkeepsie, NY native finished with a game-high 20 points.It marked her 24th game this season that she reached double-figures, and the sixth time she has gone for at least 20 points in a contest this year and seventh in her John Jay career. Hammond also added nine rebounds, five assists and five steals in 36 minutes of action.

Freshman Michaela Lattimore closed out her inaugural year with her fourth double-double of the season as the Morristown, NJ native netted 13 points on 5 of 10 shooting while collecting a team-high 10 rebounds. She also had two blocks and a steal in 26 minutes of work. Tiffany Bogle was the third Bloodhound in double-digits as she concluded her John Jay tenure with 13 points on 6 of 18 shooting while securing eight rebounds in 36 minutes of play.
 
At the conclusion of tonight's contest, both Hammond and Lattimore were named to the 2024 CUNYAC Women's Basketball Championship All-Tournament Team.
 
Brooklyn also had three players score in double-digits, led by Alina Estrella, who notched a double-double, finishing with a team-high 16 points on a 5 of 9 shooting display while grabbing a team-best 10 rebounds. She flirted with a triple-double, adding six assists and swiped two steals en route to being named Most Valuable Player of the Championship game.
 
Erika James tallied 13 points while being held to 2 of 16 and 1 of 9 from three-point range. She converted 8 of 8 from the free-throw line in her 37 minutes of play while also being added to the All-Tournament Team. Dior Dorsey netted 11 points and finished with eight rebounds in joining James and Estrella on the All-Tournament Team.

Brooklyn jumped out to an early 4-0 advantage before Hammond put John Jay on the board with a top-of-the-key three-pointer off the feed from Ashley Zeolla. The Bloodhounds took their first lead at 5-4 following a driving layup by Lattimore off the pass from Hammond. The layup kick started a 6-0 run, capped by a jumper from Natalie Simonds as the Bloodhounds claimed a 9-4 lead. Brooklyn closed out the stanza on a 6-2 run of their own, but John Jay held a 11-10 lead after the first quarter.

The Bulldogs commenced the second quarter scoring seven of the first nine points, capped by a Aleah Rafat layup that gave Brooklyn a 17-13 edge. Lattimore netted five of the next six John Jay points, trimming the Bulldogs lead to one, 20-19 as Ayanna Edwards hit the front end of a two-shot foul.
 
The Bulldogs staged a 17-4 run to close out the frame and build a 37-23 halftime lead after Suliat Afolabi made both of her free throw attempts. Brooklyn held John Jay to just one made field goal over the near five-minute span.
 
When play resumed, Brooklyn got their lead up to 43-31 following a pair of made free-throws by Ericka James at the 6:17 mark. The Bloodhounds began to make their comeback thanks to a 10-3 run that stretch out over a near four-minute span with Lattimore scoring on a layup from a Zeolla pass with 2:16 left in the quarter.
 
James continued to convert from the line as that triggered a 7-1 spurt by the top-seed as they held a 53-42 lead over the Bloodhounds heading into the final quarter.
 
Brooklyn seized momentum, opening the fourth quarter on a 12-4 run that increased their lead to 65-46 on a Dorsey driving layup. John Jay finished the game scoring eight of the final 15 points, as Hammond swished her final collegiate point from the free-throw line to complete a three-point play.
 
The Bloodhounds were held to just 27.1 percent from the field while hitting on 3 of 15 from the outside (20.0 percent). The Bulldogs hit on a 31.8 percent from the floor while shooting 88.5 percent from the free-throw line (88.5 percent).
 
John Jay held a 51-49 mark on the boards while outmuscling the Bulldogs 20-15 on the offensive glass. Both teams scored 24 points from inside the paint while the Bloodhounds held a slight 15-12 edge on second chance points.