BROOKLYN --- (www.OLDWESTBURYPANTHERS.com) SUNY Old Westbury women's basketball opened Skyline Conference play on the road Wednesday evening with a convincing 86-68 win over the St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) Bears from The Hill Center.  

Jasmine Robinson dropped in two of her six first-quarter points to break the scoring ice for the Panthers (3-2, 1-0 Skyline) 31 seconds into play.  With the game knotted at 6-6, Robinson sank a jumper to spark a 17-3 run over the final 6:23 for Old Westbury's 14-point lead (23-9) at the end of the first quarter.

Monique Joseph opened the second-quarter scoring books with a layup to extend Old Westbury's lead to 16 points (25-9).  The Bears (0-7, 0-2 Skyline) answered with a Destiny Marino layup, followed by three-straight triples to cap an 11-0 run from 9:44 to 7:10 to slice the deficit to five (25-20).  Moments later, Victoria Porcasi connected on the Bears' fourth three-pointer of the period to make it a four-point game (28-24) with 5:57 remaining in the half.  From there, Old Westbury scored 17 of the final 25 points to take a 45-32 lead into intermission.  

Old Westbury used an 8-2 spurt to open the third quarter to extend its lead to 19 points (54-34) off Crystal Barnes' jumper at the 6:45 mark.  The advantage blossomed to 20 points during the third period as Imani Lariosa dropped in a layup with 3:52 showing on the third-period clock.   

Old Westbury stretched its lead to as many as 26 points twice during the fourth quarter as Robinson sank a free throw to cap a 14-6 surge at 4:24 for a 81-55 lead.

Robinson's team-leading 18 points led two other Panthers in double-digit scoring.  Barnes used 15 points (5-of-5 FT), 12 rebounds, three steals and two blocks to post her 12th double-double of her career.  Nikki Alexander followed with season-highs of 13 points (5-of-10 FG) and 10 rebounds to register her third career double-double.  Raven Pentz contributed seven points and eight assists while Tori Bellings went for eight points and 11 rebounds off the bench.  

Marino poured in a game-high 20 points (10-of-14 FT) to pace the Bears.  She added 10 rebounds and three steals while Porcasi (12 points) and Erica Eddy (11 points) followed with double-figure scoring outputs.

Old Westbury shot 37.8 percent (34-of-90) from the field while connecting on 22.2 percent (4-of-18) from three-point range and 60.9 percent (14-of-23) from the free-throw line.  By comparison, St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) shot 28.4 percent (21-of-74) from the floor, 27.3 percent (9-of-33) from beyond the arc and 70.8 percent (17-of-24) at the charity stripe.  The Panthers owned a 73-41 rebounding edge, scoring 37 second-chance points off 35 offensive rebounds.  Old Westbury also held the advantage in assists (19-11), steals (11-7), blocks (4-3), points in the paint (54-16) and fast-break points (6-0) while converting 17 Bear turnovers into 19 points.  

MOUNT SAINT MARY KNIGHTS UP NEXT FOR THE PANTHERS: Old Westbury remains on the road next Tuesday (Dec. 8) when they take on the Mount Saint Mary Knights in Skyline Conference action at 6 p.m. inside Kaplan Center in Newburgh, New York.       

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