BRONX, N.Y. - The Lehman College women's basketball team rallied from a 10-point second half deficit, to knock off Hunter College, 72-61, in the APEX Main Gym on Tuesday evening. The Lightning bump their conference record to 9-5, while the Hawks fall to 6-9 in CUNYAC games.
With the win, Eric Harrison now has 251 career victories as the head coach of Lehman College. He is just two wins away from tying Marguerite Moran on the all-time CUNYAC coaches' wins list.
The Lightning were led by junior guard Jennifer Navarro (Jamaica, N.Y./Grover Cleveland), who scored a game-high 24 points and shot six three-point field goals. Classmate Karrin Walker (New York, N.Y./Richard R. Green) produced 18 points and grabbed five rebounds.
With 17:27 left to play in regulation, the Lightning were in a 10-point hole, but Navarro's three-point basket began a 6-0 run for the home team that shrunk Hunter's lead to 35-31, in less than two minutes.
After the Hawks jumped back out to a six-point lead, Walker shot back-to-back three-point field goals to tie the game at 39, with 13:06 left to play. Hunter regained a narrow 42-39 lead but Walker tied it back up with yet another shot from beyond the arc. It was Navarro's turn as she buried a shot from downtown to give Lehman its first lead since the game's opening minutes, 45-42.
With Lehman hanging on to a 47-46 lead, Navarro kept attacking from the perimeter, successfully converting another three-point opportunity, to give the home team a four-point advantage, with 9:56 left to play in regulation time.
The Hawks tried to keep the game close, but with the score 54-50, Navarro drained another three-pointer to extend Lehman's lead to seven. A pair of free throws from junior forward Amani Lightbourne (Elmsford, N.Y./Alexander Hamilton) put Lehman up by double-digits, 61-50, with less than five minutes remaining. Hunter never made the game close again as Lehman completed a 21 point turnaround in the second half, to win the game 72-61.
Navarro shot 5-8 from beyond the arc in the second half. Junior forward Yarmese Jones (Astoria, N.Y./William C. Bryant) and Lightbourne each scored eight points and grabbed five rebounds. Junior forward Linda McKeon (Yonkers, N.Y./Moyne C.S.) scored seven points, grabbed six boards, dished out five assists, and forced three steals. Junior forward Luisayra Madrigal (Bronx, N.Y./Monsignor Scanlan) added eight rebounds.
The Lightning will be back in action on Friday against York College, in a CUNY Athletic Conference contest, scheduled to begin at 5:00 p.m.