Lady Beavers Lose To CSI, Fall Below .500 In Conference

By Curtis AshleySports WriterThe City College Women's basketball team did not start the new year off the way they would have hoped, as they lost to the Dolphins of College of Staten Island on Tuesday evening, the final score 57-69.Another loss extends their current losing streak to three games, after dropping two in Florida. This loss has more significance, CSI being a conference opponent. After the loss, the girls fall to 6-6 overall, and 2-3 in the CUNYAC, below .500. This is their second time being below .500 in the conference this season, after losing to Brooklyn College earlier in the season, the first conference opponent they faced this season.The first quarter showed some promise. CCNY led at the end with a score of 19-15. The second half brought some struggles for the team. The lead switched between teams, but by the end of the first half, CSI would come out on top with an eight-point lead, the score at 31-39. The team finished the first half with a shooting average of only .379.Missed shots plagued City in the start of the third period, and the Dolphins certainly took advantage. CSI went on a 16-6 run in the third, only letting City make three of their shots. The largest lead of the game came from CSI when they led the Beavers by 18 points. In typical CCNY basketball fashion, the girls never gave up. They began to pick up the pace, and would even diminish CSI's lead to a manageable seven points with a little over a minute left in the game, after a steal by Debra Chan leading to a Natasha Almonacy jump shot. But the surge in offense was not enough, as those would be City's final points of the game.The team's numbers were nothing to be ecstatic about. They ended the evening with a .319 shooting average. They made half their free throws, going 7-for-14, and only went 4-of-16 from downtown. Tiara Brown had her usual big output. She scored the team high 17 points, 15 rebounds, and 5 assists, making for her ninth double-double of the season. Almonacy came off the bench to have the second highest scoring total for the team, with 8 points. Taylor Pompilio was a force on defense, with three steals and a blocked shot.The season is just now picking up, with a few more conference games in the near future. This includes their next game on Friday evening, when City squares off against Medgar Evers College, last in the conference at 0-12. The girls will look to put themselves above .500 overall, and at .500 in the conference for the third time this season, with a win against Medgar. City defeated Medgar in the last game of the 2014-2015 season. It was a 60-31 blowout at home. Where is Friday's game being played? At home, in the Nat Holman Gymnasium. The girls will definitely try to recreate that game, and turn themselves around at a crucial point in their season.