NEW YORK, N.Y.— The John Jay women's basketball team picked up its second win in a row as the Bloodhounds beat Hunter College 61-49 at the Doghouse on Tuesday evening.
 
The win improves John Jay to 4-4 (2-1 CUNYAC) this season, while Hunter College falls to 2-6 (2-2 CUNYAC) on the season.
 
John Jay was led by Simone Victor with 17 points on 6-for-9 shooting, while Victoria Story notched double figures with 14 points to go along with nine rebounds. Jamecia Forsythe added seven points, 13 rebounds and four blocked shots in the win.
 
Hunter College was led by Nicole Lenard with 18 points and four steals, while Dimitra Thomopoulos had a double-double of 12 points and 14 rebounds.
 
The contest started out as a defensive struggle with neither team connecting on many shots. The two schools shot a combined 13-for-52 (25 percent) from the floor in the first stanza as the Bloodhounds connected on 7 of 27 (25.9 percent), while the visiting Hawks shot 6-for-25 (24 percent) though the first 20 minutes.
 
Hunter took the initial lead and led by as much as four early in the first half. But with the Bloodhounds down 11-7, John Jay scored nine unanswered to take a lead they would not relinquish.  The Bloodhounds led 16-11 with 9:28 to play and led by as much as 10 later in the first half as the Bloodhounds were up 25-15 with 5:37 to play.
 
But John Jay failed to score the rest of the first half as Hunter gathered a five point run to pull to within five as John Jay led 25-20 at halftime.
 
In the second half, Hunter pulled to within as little as four on several occasions. But the Bloodhounds answered each time to maintain a cushion.
 
Midway through the second half, with John Jay up 41-35, Victor uncorked her pinpoint shooting ability and connected on three straight three point field goals to break the game open and give John Jay a 50-35 lead with 6:24 to play.
 
The nine point spark gave the Bloodhounds their biggest lead of the night before Hunter made a last ditch effort to get back into the game. After the Victor buckets, the Hawks immediately responded by outscoring John Jay 11-1 to pull to within five points of the lead as John Jay was up 51-46 with 3:47 remaining.
 
But the Bloodhounds reestablished control and used a 6-0 spurt to go back up by double figures to secure the win.
 
For the game, John Jay shot 38 percent (19-for-50) from the floor, including 52.2 percent (12-for-23) in the second half.
 
John Jay will have a few weeks off from competition and return to action on Fri. Dec. 28 for a game against Juniata College in the opening round of the Juniata College Annual Holiday Tournament at 7:30 p.m.