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 The CUNYAC Senior Women’s
Basketball Tournament is set to get underway at York
College in
Queens, New York
with four quarterfinal contests on Sunday, February 22. The four winners will meet in the semifinals
on Wednesday, February 25 and the championship game will be held on Friday,
February 27. All of the action will take
place at York.
#1 seeded Staten
Island will face #8 seeded Lehman to open the event. Staten Island
won the South Division and earned the top-seed in the tournament. The Dolphins, averaging a league-high 71.6
points per game, are led by junior All-Star pick Jacclyn Rock (New Dorp/Staten Island, NY), the leading rebounder in
the country (14.8 pg.). Rock also leads
the team in scoring (15.0 pg.) and is getting terrific support from sophomore guard/forward
Kim Thompson (St. John Villa/Staten
Island, NY) and senior forward Tamara
Taylor (Curtis/Staten Island).
Thompson also averages a double-double of 14.8 points and 12.0 rebounds
while Taylor is
leading the league in field goal percentage (.549). Lehman is being led by their All-Star Melissa Escalera (Stevenson/Bronx, NY),
who is averaging 16.4 points,12.2 rebounds, and a league-high 2.04 blocks per
game. Freshman center Shatasia Little (Grand Street Campus/Bronx, NY)
joined the Lightning mid-season, and has been a major force, averaging a
double-double. Senior Paulette Baldwin (Trenton
Central/Trenton, NJ) has been a solid presence on the interior, averaging 7.8
caroms per game.
#2 seeded Hunter will be aiming
for their third consecutive CUNYAC championship after claiming the North Division,
and will face #7 seeded Medgar Evers.
Senior All-Star sharpshooter Jen
Agosto (Midwood/Brookly, NY), who is pouring in a team-high 16.0 points per
game, is the league’s top long-range shooter (71 trifectas). Classmate Tania Blanco (Saint Catherine/Bronx, NY), also an All-Star this
season, leads the team in rebounding (10.4 pg.) and is adding 13.2 points per
game. Sophomore forward Jessica Proscia (Notre Dame/Staten
Island, NY) has been a solid contributor as well, averaging 8.1 points and 7.4
rebounds per game. Medgar Evers boasts
the second-leading scorer in the conference in junior Rannie Miles (Prospect Heights/Brooklyn, NY), who is netting 18.9
points per game. The guard/forward is
also seventh in the league in rebounding (9.6 pg.) and is fourth in steals (3.7
pg). Sophomore guard Jessica English
(Jefferson/Brooklyn, NY) is scoring 9.0 points per game and freshman forward Ursula Tesis (Sheepshead Bay/Brooklyn,
NY) has enjoyed a standout initial season, averaging 8.5 points and 8.7
rebounds per game.
#3 seeded John Jay enjoyed an outstanding season under
first-year head coach John McGraw and will face host York, the #6 seed. Senior All-Star December Bails (Frederick Douglass/Brooklyn, NY) is fourth in the
league in scoring (17.3 pg.) and is ninth in steals (2.8 pg.). Senior Cherith Pointer (Midwood/Brooklyn, NY)
led the Bloodhounds in rebounding (9.0 pg.) and is adding 13.3 points per
game. Junior guard, Tiffany Crippen (Stevenson/Bronx, NY) has put-together a big
second-half of the season, and is averaging 13.4 points per game. York
will be a tough out as they will hit their home floor with a pair of All-Stars
in Tashana Watson (August
Martin/Springfield Gardens) and Kimberly
Keene (Tilden/Brooklyn, NY). Watson,
a junior, is tenth in the
Fourth seeded Baruch will face #5 seeded
CCNY in what should be a hotly-contested match-up. Baruch will be led by a pair of All-Star
selections in sophomore Jessenia
Marrero (Francis Lewis/Flushing, NY) and sophomore point guard Diane Ramirez (Francis Lewis/Flushing,
NY). Marrero is
third in the conference in scoring (17.5 ppg.) and is fourth in three-point
goals (2.1 pg.). Ramirez, one of the
most complete guards in the league, leads the league in assists (5.7 pg.) and
steals (4.4 pg.) and is also adding 8.8 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. Another guard, freshman Alexandra Stamatiades (William Cullent
Bryant/Queens, NY) is chipping in with 10.5 points per game. CCNY will look to their All-Star, junior Kim Neos (St. Mary/Queens, NY), who is
scoring a team-high 11.6 points per game this season. The guard is third in the league in
three-point field goals (2.40 pg.) and has added 40 steals this season. Senior Rahmat Balogun (Martin Luther
King/Brooklyn, NY) is adding 10.4 points per game and senior Juwariya Abdul-Karim (Alfred
State/Manhattan, NY) has been a terrific defensive stopper, recording a
team-high 50 steals.
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