The City College of New York women's basketball team (1-4 Overall, 0-1 CUNYAC) dropped their first conference game of the 2010-2011 season, falling to the Lightning of Lehman College (4-2 Overall, 1-0 CUNYAC) by a score of 83-61 Tuesday evening at the Nat Holman Gymnasium in Upper Manhattan.
Three players scored at least 17 points for the Lightning, who used a suffocating defensive attack to frustrate the Beavers and force 44 CCNY miscues. Lehman College standout Louvania Hayes paced her squad with a nice all-around game as she posted a game-high 25 points on nine-of-23 shooting to go along with eight assists, seven rebounds, and four steals. Amanda De La Cruz netted 20 points while hitting on 10 of her 22 attempts. She also added eight assists and seven steals, and Jaleesa Gordon came off of the bench to contribute 17 points, eight rebounds, and three blocks.
The Lightning led the contest 46-29 at the half and in the second session, Lehman College turned up the voltage on their defense and pressed heavily in the backcourt, forcing turnovers and increasing their lead gradually. The Lightning had 28 steals on the evening compared to the Beavers' 10, and Lehman also swatted 10 shots while CCNY blocked two.
Despite the loss for CCNY, Taryn VanEsselstyn scored a team-high 14 points on six-of-11 shooting while also recording 13 rebounds and swatting two shots. Three other players scored in double figures, including point guard Donika Rexhepi who contributed 13 points, nine rebounds, and four assists for the evening. Joyce Li came off the bench to score 11, and Syreeta Williams netted 10 points before exiting the contest in the second half with an injury. Following the game, CCNY head man Kevin Clifford gave his thoughts.
"The biggest obstacle for us right now is finding out a way to minimize our turnovers and give ourselves opportunities to establish a rhythm offensively," Clifford said. "We committed 44 turnovers tonight and we have to be better protecting the ball and having more awareness of what is around us. Tonight was definitely a tough loss for us on our home floor, so we'll hope to straighten things out and play a better game on Thursday evening."
Lehman College shot 38.9 percent from the floor (35-90), while the City College of New York hit on 40 percent of their attempts (22-55). The Lightning were 10-for-16 from the charity stripe while the Beavers hit on 15 of their 23 attempts from the line, and the Lightning held a slight edge in the carom department, out-rebounding CCNY 50-45.
The Beavers will return to action on Thursday evening as the team travels to Baruch College to battle the Bearcats at the ARC Arena in another conference contest, with tip-off time scheduled for 5:30pm.