Brooklyn, NY --- The Brooklyn College Women's Basketball team, the #1 overall seed in the 2012 City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC)/Con Edison Women's Basketball Championships, cruised past the #8 seeded Cardinals of York College in their Quarterfinals round match earlier today at the West Quad Center by a score of 63-25.

With the win, the Bulldogs improve to 20-6 overall on the season and advance to the Semifinals round of the CUNYAC/Con Ed championships for the second year in a row, which will take place this Wednesday, February 22nd at Nat Holman Gymnasium on the campus of the City College of New York (CCNY) at 6:00 pm. BC will await its opponent, between the winner of #4 Lehman College and #5 College of Staten Island, who will play later today at 7:00 pm. The 20 wins on the season also marks the first 20-win season in BC Women's Basketball history.

York finishes the 2011-2012 season with an overall record of 3-22.

Brooklyn would strike first to begin the game, as the Bulldogs scored the first five point of the game on a layup from senior Lauren Plagainos and three-pointer from junior Charnelle Saint Laurent. A bucket from York's Shadae Rice ended the BC run and got the Cardinals on the board at the 17:19 mark.

BC would score the next nine points from four different players as senior Justine O'Callahan, freshman Nicole Francomano, Saint Laurent and Plagainos all chipped in to the 9-0 run, as the Bulldogs would go up by double figures, 14-2, with 11:43 remaining in the half.

Still down by 12, 16-4, minutes later, the Cardinals would go on a 6-0 run to cut their deficit in half, 16-10, with 7:26 left before the halftime break. That's as close as York would get the rest of the way, however, as the Bulldogs closed out the half on a 10-0 run to take a 16-point advantage, 26-10, into the locker room.

Brooklyn would cruise the rest of the way, as the Bulldogs would outscore the Cardinals 37-15 in the second half, en route to its 63-25 victory.

Leading the way for Brooklyn was Saint Laurent, who led all scorers with a game-high 21 points, to go along with four assists and four steals. For her efforts, Saint Laurent would be named the player of the game.

Plagainos finished the day with 17 points and six rebounds, while junior Tiffany Thompson grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds, to go with five points, four steals and a pair of blocked shots. O'Callahan had nine boards and six points, while Francomano dished out six assists, to go with six points and a game-best six steals.

Senior Melissa St. Louis and junior Kelly Jamison each grabbed eight rebounds, as the Bulldogs controlled the glass, out-rebounding the Cardinals 60-35, which led to a 29-0 advantage in second chance points.

BC also forced York into 33 turnovers, contributed by 21 steals by the Bulldogs, which led to 30 points scored by Brooklyn off of turnovers.

For the game, Brooklyn shot just 30.6% (22-72) from the field, including 27.3% (6-22) from three. The Bulldogs also struggled from the line converting just 59.1% (13-22) from the charity stripe.

The stingy BC defense held York to just 19.6% (10-51) from the field and 11.1% (1-9) from beyond the arc. The Cardinals hit 4-of-6 (66.7%) from the line.

The Cardinals were led by Rice's team-high 10 points, while Ishonda McFarland grabbed a game-high of 11 rebounds to go along with four assists.

If you haven't done so already, be sure to procure your free tickets for Wednesday's semifinal round by visiting the CUNYAC website at the following link: http://www.cunyathletics.com/sports/2011/9/29/2011_12_champ_tickets.aspx