BRONX, N.Y. - The Lehman College women's basketball team blitzed the College at Old Westbury, 104-74, in the First Round of the 7th Coaches vs. Cancer Basketball Classic held at the APEX on Saturday afternoon.
The Lightning will now host Washington and Jefferson College on Sunday in the championship game. The Presidents knocked off Anderson (Ind.) University, 71-44, in first round action.
After getting off to a sluggish start in the first half, the Lightning exploded for 64 points in the second stanza while holding the visiting Panthers to just 37 points in each half.
Lehman (9-2) trailed early before freshman guard Genesis Liberato (Santo Domingo, D.R./Liceo Ramon Matias Mella) took a feed from sophomore guard Jennifer Navarro (Jamaica, N.Y./Grover Cleveland) and laid the ball up and in to pull the home team within one, just over five minutes into the game.
Junior forward Shalaya Nieves (Camden, Del./Caesar Rodney) attacked the paint and scored the ball to give Lehman its first lead at 7-6, with 14:34 left in the opening half and the Lightning would never look back. Sophomore forward Amani Lightbourne's (Elmsford, N.Y./Alexander Hamilton) two-point field goal capped off a 9-0 run and extended the Lightning's lead to six.
The Panthers (2-8) rallied, keeping the game close for the remainder of the first half. Lehman held a narrow, 40-37, lead at halftime.
The Lightning flipped a switch at the start of the second half by scoring the first seven points. The run started when Navarro drained a three-point shot just ten seconds to double the home team's lead. After Lehman's defense forced a turnover, Nieves took a shot, missed, grabbed her own rebound, and laid the ball up and in to put Lehman up, 45-37, with 19:20 remaining in regulation.
The home team would continue to provide pressure on defense as freshman guard Amely Del Rosario (Bronx, N.Y./John F. Kennedy) forced a steal and found Lightbourne who produced another bucket in the paint to conclude the 7-0 run in a span of 58 seconds.
The Lightning had another big run in them as the hosts went on a 10-0 run to extend Lehman's lead to 20 points, and put the game out of reach for the Panthers.
Del Rosario led all players with 26 points, while dishing out five assists and forcing five steals. Nieves produced a double-double, with 23 points and 15 boards. Liberato scored 22 points and helped out with four steals. Navarro tallied 15 points with four assists. Lightbourne scored 13 points and brought down 10 rebounds for a double-double of her own.