Box Score
NEW YORK, NY–After a tightly contested game throughout, John Jay College out-played the York College women's basketball team in the final two minutes of play and defeated the Lady Cardinals 94-86 in the quarterfinals of the 2011 CUNY/ Con Edison Women's Basketball Championships.
John Jay now advances to the semi-finals to take on defending champion Baruch College on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. at the City College of New York. York is eliminated from the CUNYAC playoffs.
Both teams shot lights-out from the field during the game, particularly in the first half. York shot 54 percent in the first half, while the Bloodhounds shot 55 percent. The hot shooting was evident in the score at halftime, as York led going into the locker room by a score of 51-47. It was a back-and-forth contest throughout most of the first half, as each team exchanged blows like prizefighters. The Bloodhounds held a six-point lead (41-35) following a jumper by Catherine Loppe with 3:38 to play in the half. However, the Lady Cardinals closed the half strong, scoring the final eight points. York's LeTanya Grady drained a shot from beyond the arc in the final seconds to put York up by four after 20 minutes of play.
York continued to play well after halftime and extended its lead to nine points when Elizabeth Padilla scored on a fast break to put the Lady Cardinals up 63-54 with 15:12 to play. But shortly after that, things started to turn against York. CUNYAC All-Star Shadae Rice picked up her fourth foul with 13 minutes remaining on the clock and a few minutes afterwards, senior Maimouna Dabo picked up her fourth foul. With two of York's best scorers in foul trouble, John Jay was able to close the gap. A jumper by John Jay's Jamecia Forsythe put the Bloodhounds back on top (67-66) with 10: 34 to play. Four minutes later, Dabo picked up her fifth foul---on a questionable call—and York was forced to play the rest of the game without her.
Despite her absence, York fought hard and re-took the lead after Joanna Josama made a lay-up to make the score 84-82 in favor of the Lady Cardinals with 4:17 remaining. From that point on, John Jay took it to York, outscoring the Lady Cardinals 12-4 in the final four minutes of action.
Trailing by four points (90-86), with 1:30 left, York's Shadae Rice was fouled and sent to the free throw line with a chance to make it a one possession game. Rice could not make either free throw and John Jay scored on its next possession to go up by six points with 1:10 to play. York could not score on its next possession as well and John Jay made a couple free throws to seal the win.
York was led by Grady who scored a career-high 23 points. She was on fire from the field, making 9-of-12 of shots and 5-of-6 from three-point land. A trio of seniors played valiantly in their final game at York. Elizabeth Padilla netted 17 points and dished out five assists, Maimouna Dabo added 12 points and Shayna Smith finished with 11 points, five boards and four assists. Rice added 12 points for York.
John Jay was led by Jessica Lirio who had an outstanding game, scoring a game-high 32 points, while making 12 out of 18 shots from the field. Dominique Grice added 18 points for the Bloodhounds who improved to 11-15 with the win. The Lady Cardinals finish the 2010-11 season with a record of 10-16.
