New York, New York – The BMCC women's basketball team exploded in the fourth quarter, holding Suffolk Community College to single digits and outscoring them 23-8 overall to pull away with a 72-52 Region 15 victory on Saturday afternoon at BMCC Gymnasium. The victory improves the Panthers to 3-6 (3-6 Region XV) while the Sharks drop to 1-10 (1-7 Region XV). 
 
BMCC also ended a six-game losing streak to the Sharks, defeating them for the first time since the 2016-2017 season when they won 70-48 at home.

The Panthers' 72-point output was their second-highest of the year as they had a season-high four players in double figures, including three of the starting five, while having two players post double-doubles. Sophomore Emily Kennedy (Brooklyn, New York) spearheaded the offensive attack, posting her sixth straight double-double and team-leading seventh of the season with a game-high 22 points with 17 of them coming in the second half while snatching a game-best 11 steals in the contest and missing a triple-double by three rebounds with seven on the afternoon. The 20-point scoring performance was Kennedy's team-best fourth of the season and the ninth of her career while she also posted her 13th career double-double. 
 
Freshman Sheliyah Jackson (Bronx, New York) put up her second double-double of the season, hauling down a game-best tied 10 rebounds and scoring 10 points, while sophomore Brynanh Sledge (Brooklyn, New York) also chipped in with 10 points of her own. The Panthers also got 16 points from their bench as freshman Stephany Coward (Queens, New York) scored 11 points, and classmates Kamella Ross (Bronx, New York) and Eboney McClellan (Brooklyn, New York) scored four points and two points.
 
Sledge dished out a career-best five assists and tied for a game-best with Kennedy, who also had five assists on the afternoon, while Jackson swatted away a career-high two shots. Ross, Coward, and their classmate Mariah Wigfall (New York, New York) all distributed three assists, while Jackson had two.
 
Ross also got into the double-digit rebounding party, ripping down a career-high 10 rebounds, while Wigfall recorded nine rebounds and had four steals.
 
BMCC handed out a new season-high 22 assists, with six players giving out two or more assists on the afternoon while dominating the glass, outrebounding Suffolk Community College 47-26, with their 47 rebound total being their second-highest of the year. The Panthers also scored 28 points off of 29 Suffolk Community College turnovers while snagging 22 steals and blasting away four blocks, also their second-highest total on the season.

The Panthers got off to a quick start in the first quarter, jumping out to a quick 11-2 lead when Jackson laid one up on a fastbreak started by a Kennedy steal at 4:46. Suffolk responded with a 7-2 run to get the deficit down to four, 13-9 at the 7:15 mark on a jumper from Mia Khan then the McClellan knocked down a jumper of a Ross rebound at 1:40. The Sharks scored four of the last six points to end the period with the Panthers leading going into the second 17-13.
 
The Panthers got their lead up to six to start the second quarter on a Jackson layin at 9:25 to make it 19-13, and then the Sharks got within three on a Mia Khan layin at 7:14 to make it 22-19. BMCC responded with six straight points to stretch their lead to its biggest of the first half nine, 28-19 at 4:01 on a jumper by Yisneily Morales (Bronx, New York) before Suffolk Community College rolled off a 13-3 run to close the first half capped off by a Theresa Rivera layup at the buzzer to give them a 32-31 halftime lead.
 
The third quarter was competitive, featuring three lead changes and two ties. Morales would lead things off for the Panthers with a jumper at 8:16 to put them back in front 33-32 before Aaliyah Shorter went 1-for-2 at the charity stripe to knot it up at 33. Coward's three-point play at 6:26 would put the Panthers back in front 36-33, then Suffolk scored six of the following seven points to tie it again at 37 at 4:45 when Shorter connected on two free throws and went back in front 39-37 when Mia Khan went a perfect 2-for-2 at the line.
 
The Panthers responded with an 8-0 run - with all eight points coming on two Kennedy three-pointers and a jumper- to go back in front on the next possession at 4:15 on a Kennedy three to make it 40-39 and building the lead to five, 45-40 at 2:50 on another Kennedy connection from deep. The Sharks wouldn't get any closer than four the rest of the way as the Panthers ended the third quarter with a 49-44 lead going into the final stanza.
 
BMCC would pull away in the fourth quarter, holding Suffolk Community College to eight points and using a 9-2 run to get their lead to double digits for the first time on the afternoon, going up 56-46 at 6:38 on a Kennedy layup off a steal and stretching it to 12, 58-46 at 6:13 on a Sledge jumper at 6:13 before building it to its largest of the afternoon, 20 72-52 with three seconds left on a Kennedy layup off a Sledge steal to pick up the victory.

Suffolk Community College had three players score in double figures on the afternoon, with Aaliyah Shorter leading the way with a team-high 12 points. Sanderlee Thervil and Theresa Rivera contributed 10 points apiece, Alexandra Madrigal and Shorter dished out a team-high two assists each, and Jasmine Beverly and Shorter gobbled up a team-best two steals apiece.

The Panthers look for back-to-back victories on Tuesday, December 19, against Westchester Community College at Viking Gymnasium in Valhalla, New York, at 5 p.m. For more information, visit the BMCC Women's Basketball Schedule Page.

Notables –
- Emily Kennedy (Brooklyn, New York) has scored in double figures in all nine games this year and 21 of her last 22 games dating back to the 2022-23 season while recording double-doubles in seven of her eight games this season, including eight in her previous 10 games dating back to last year.
- She also ranks in the top ten in the country in two statistical categories, tied for sixth in the nation in assists per game (5.0) and steals per game (5.0) while ranking ninth in the country in points per game (20.3).
- Kennedy is the Panthers top player leading the squad in 12 different categories in points (162), scoring average (20.3), field goals made (53), field goals attempted (123), free throws made (51), free throws attempted (84), rebounds (75), rebounding average (9.4), assists (40), assists per game (5.0), steals (40), and steals per game (5.0). 
 - Kennedy moved into seventh all-time in career steals with 90, surpassing Lauren Malcolm's and Debra Chamber's 80 career steals from 2018-2020 and 2001-2003. She has also registered double-digit steals in two contests this season, with a career-best 12 steals in the Panthers opener against LaGuardia Community College.
- Kennedy also moved into 11th all-time program history with 435 career points, surpassing Gabrielle Alleyne's 400 career points from 2011-2013, while 12th and 14th all-time in program history in career assists (77) and career rebounds (200), surpassing Autum Adams-Edwards's and Mildhreen Cacoque's career total of 76 career assists and Dashka Fonrose's and Monica Johnson's total of 193 career rebounds. 


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