Lady Beavers Fall to Brooklyn

 City College's Women's Basketball team fell 62-47 to the Brooklyn Bulldogs on Wednesday night, falling to 4-13 overall on the year and 2-7 within the CUNYAC.The tone was set immediately with the very first possession of the game. Starting point guard Karissa Core was hit in the face by a pass she couldn't handle, leading to her first of six turnovers in the opening half. She would go on to commit 10 turnovers in the game overall. The rest of the Beavers' floor also looked lackadaisical, as they would go on to commit 19 turnovers in the first half, finishing the game with 31 total."I didn't like our disposition, we looked really similar to the first half of [when we were playing at Baruch], we just didn't look confident with the basketball at all, especially with passing decisions. The ball handling was just atrocious," said head coach Jamie Angeli.A lack of rebounds, especially in the first half, were the main culprits in City's defeat as Brooklyn secured 31 rebounds to City's 22 in the opening period. Of Brooklyn's 31 first-half rebounds, 17 were of the offensive variety. City mustered only four offensive rebounds by comparison.Core especially struggled in running the Beaver offense in transition, with seemingly every new possession being halted by Brooklyn hands in her face. On numerous occasions, those same Bulldog hands would graze or tip an attempted pass, ending a City play before it had a chance to begin.Angeli cited the Bulldogs' full-court-press as a major roadblock while City held possessions, "A majority of their points in the first half were offensive rebounds off of the press."He noted that in the wake of Taylor Pompilio's absence due to season-ending knee surgery, Core is essentially playing out of position as a point guard."We're trying to do it by committee, even though it's mostly Karissa shouldering the load, and she's not really a point guard. We're asking her to be a point guard but I never envisioned her as one, ever, when I recruited her two years ago. I think she'd be a girl who can spot you three, four minutes at the point. Obviously, now she's got to play the entire game at this point. It wears her down a bit. It takes a lot of energy, mentally and physically, to have the ball in your hands to make decisions. I think she's given great effort. She's doing the best she can, but it's really not her true position," he said.Core finished with five points on 2-of-8 shooting, grabbing five rebounds, one steal, and dishing out two assists to go along with her 10 turnovers.City's top performance belonged to Tiara Brown, who led the game in scoring with 18 points, going 9 for 13 from the field. She also added 12 rebounds and two assists. Robin Daley contributed with a double-double of her own, securing 11 points and 10 rebounds."Tiara was a monster tonight, she played her tail off. I couldn't ask for more from her. She's frustrated, cause at times it seemed like she's the only one competing out there tonight," said Angeli.Interestingly, City outscored Brooklyn 32-31 in the first half, continuing their recent trend of starting games slowly and coming out much stronger in the closing period. Regardless of the strong finish, it wasn't enough to make up for their mere 15 points in the first half, in which the Bulldogs scored 31 to open.Megan Campbell was a standout for Brooklyn, as she scored 16 points with 21 rebounds, two assists, and two steals.Looking ahead to Friday's matchup, Angeli was succinct in what he believes will be the key to the Beavers' matchup against York College."For us it's gonna be about our defense on Friday night: getting stops."The Beavers will travel to Jamaica, Queens for a 6pm tip-off against York (5-11 overall, 3-6 in CUNYAC play) as they look to halt their two game losing streak.