John Jay - 71; Farmingdale State - 54
NEW YORK | Junior forwards Tiffany Sosa (New Hyde Park, N.Y.) and Layla Mendoza (Westhampton Beach, N.Y.) scored 12 points apiece Wednesday night for the Farmingdale State College women's basketball team, which fell by a 71-54 score in non-conference action at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Mendoza reeled in a team-best seven rebounds for the Rams (0-2), while Sosa came off the bench and drew six fouls on the low blocks in 17 minutes of action that led to six points from the charity stripe. Sophomore guard Jenna Pignataro (Farmingville, N.Y.) shot 4-for-8 from the floor, including 3-for-7 from beyond the 3-point arc, to register a career-high 11 points, while backcourt mate Erin Conte (So.; Melville, N.Y.) added 10 points and swiped a game-high-tying four steals. Senior guard Erin Pohalski (Huntington, N.Y.) dished out a game-high-tying five assists for FSC, which accumulated 14 assists on its 20 made field goals on the evening and held an 11-6 advantage in fastbreak points.
Consecutive layups by Mendoza and on the break by Conte gave the visitors a 9-4 lead five minutes in, before a nine-point spurt by the Bloodhounds (1-0) put the hosts in front for good en route to a 20-13 edge after one period of play.
Mendoza and Sosa scored four and three points, respectively, during an 8-0 run late in the third quarter to pull the visitors to within a 49-37 count. From there, John Jay scored the next 10 points of the contest to pull away.
Head coach Mark Dellecave's Rams are back in action Saturday, when they play host to Albertus Magnus College in Farmingdale State's home opener at noon. The FSC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) is playing host to a food drive for Island Harvest, and strongly encourages fans to bring donations to the contest (full release/list of items sought).