New York, New York – The BMCC women's basketball team fell 71-44 to No. 9 nationally ranked Hostos Community College 71-44 in the CUNYAC Community College Women's Basketball Championship on Friday night at Kingsborough Gymnasium in Brooklyn, New York. The Caimans claimed with league-best 10th conference championship with the win improving to 19-4, while the Panthers fell to 6-16 with the loss.
 
Two Panthers had double-doubles on the night as freshman Demaris Andrews (Bayonne, New Jersey), the CUNYAC 2022-23 Rookie of the Year, put up her team-best eighth of the season and second straight with a team-high 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Classmate Emily Kennedy (Brooklyn, New York) recorded her fifth double-double of the season, hauling down 12 rebounds and scoring 15 points. Kennedy also dished out three assists, and Andrews gobbled up three steals.

Andrews and Kennedy were also named to the 2023 CUNYAC Community College Women's Basketball All-Tournament Team.
 
Sophomore Alicia Tomby (Berbice, Guyana) also registered the best scoring performance of her career with nine points.
 
Hostos Community grabbed the first four points of the first quarter, all coming from Savannah Williams, the CUNYAC Championship's Most Valuable Player, before a Kennedy layup with 5:04 cut the lead down to one, 5-4. Zaire Bailey would go 1-for-2 at the charity stripe, getting the Caiman lead back to five, 9-4 at 2:21, then Andrews cut the deficit to three, 9-6, nine seconds later.
 
However, that was the closest the Panthers would get the rest of the night as Hostos finished the first quarter with eight of the last nine points capped off by a Dimon Walker jumper with 25 seconds remaining, giving the Caimans a 17-7 lead after one.
 
The Caimans built their lead to its largest of the night, 36, at the 7:35 mark of the third quarter on a jumper from Savannah Williams to lead 52-16. Then the Panthers scored eight of the final 14 points of the quarter, but Hostos remained in front 58-24 after three.
 
BMCC showed a lot of grit in the fourth quarter with the game out of reach, outscoring Hostos 20-13.
 
However, the Caimans would prevail 71-44 to keep the Conference crown for a sixth consecutive season.

The Caimans had three players in double figures, and two posted double-doubles in the contest. Sophomore Savannah Williams, the championship's Most Valuable Player, put up a fifth double-double of the season, dropping a game-high 29 points and handing out another with six assists while grasping 13 rebounds. Freshman Fatoumata Diaby, the 2023 CUNYAC Sportsmanship Award Winner, scored 13 points while classmate Zaire Bailey ripped down a game-high 16 rebounds and scored 10 points while fellow underclassman Darina David snatched a game-best four steals.
 
2023 CUNYAC Player of the Year Aiyana Hicks turned away a game-high four shots and brought down 15 rebounds in the contest.
 
The Panthers will have two weeks off before entering as the #5 seed in the 2023 Region 15 Championship Tournament, where they will battle #4 seed Suffolk Community College on Tuesday, February 28, at 7 p.m. at Brookhaven Gymnasium in Selden, New York. For more information, visit the BMCC women's basketball schedule page.


ABOUT THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM AT BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE
The athletic program at Borough of Manhattan Community College encompasses a total of eight varsity teams competing at the NJCAA Division III level. For the latest news on the Panthers, please visit us at https://bmccathletics.com - The official site of BMCC Athletics. Follow the Panthers on Instagram (@bmcc_athletics) and Twitter (@BMCCAthletics), and Like Us on Facebook (BMCC Athletics).