The Berkeley College women's basketball team picked up a much-needed victory on Monday evening, toughing-out a 56-39 decision over Central Penn in a contest played at the Wellness Center on the campus of the College of New Rochelle. The game served as the home opener for Berkeley, who improved to a record of 1-2 on the 2015-2016 campaign. Central Penn slipped to 1-8 with the loss.
Kiara Johnson accounted for most of Berkeley's offensive output in the opening quarter, as she netted nine of the Knights' 11 points in the game's opening 10 minutes. The Deer Park, NY native connected on a three-point basket in the opening stages of the contest to put the Knights up 3-0 – and later in the period – scored four consecutive points to tie the game at 11 apiece after Berkeley trailed 11-7. Central Penn's Janay Nelson nailed a jumper with 15 seconds remaining in the quarter to put her team up 13-11, and that would be the score as the period came to a close.
After allowing Central Penn to convert on 46.2 of its field goal attempts in the opening quarter, Berkeley's defense came alive in the second quarter, as the Knights allowed just three opposing field goals in the second period (Central Penn shot just 3-12 in the second quarter). Berkeley also forced five turnovers in the period, and also outscored Central Penn 14-6 during those 10 minutes to enter the locker room with a modest 25-19 advantage. Johnson – who dominated the first quarter offensively – put on a show defensively in the second period, tallying a whopping seven steals to pace Berkeley's defense.
Berkeley College dominated the third quarter of play, as the Knights forced 11 opponent turnovers while shooting 47.4 percent from the floor (9-19) and outscoring Central Penn 21-6 for the period. When Johnson nailed a trey with 58 seconds left in the third, Berkeley held its biggest lead of the game – a 25 point edge (46-21). Consecutive baskets by Central Penn's Nashae Glover closed the quarter, but Berkeley was still in total control of this one, leading 46-25 heading into the game's final 10 minutes.
In the fourth quarter, the Knights led by as many as 25 points on two different occasions, and never let Central Penn get any closer than 19 points down, as Berkeley would eventually hold on to record the victory by 19. Following the win, Head Coach Jay Lynch spoke about his team's effort.
"This was a tremendous team effort by our student-athletes here this evening, and they deserve credit for toughing it out and getting this win," Lynch said. "We did a good job of applying pressure defensively in the second and third quarters, and that proved to be the difference for us as we built a big lead and never looked back."
Johnson posted a double-double on the evening, record game-highs of 21 points, 11 steals, and five assists. She also snatched four rebounds, as well. Letisha Bolden added 15 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists, and Jinedia Harkness netted 10 points while adding eight steals.
Despite the loss for Central Penn, Nelson recorded a game-high 13 points to go along with five caroms, while teammate Nicole Schmidhamer pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds while posting a game-high of five blocks and netting six points.
Both teams struggled shooting the basketball, as Berkeley connected on just 32.9 percent of its attempts from the floor (25-76), while Centrel Penn hit on 19 of their 71 shots for the evening (26.8 percent). Berkeley dished 12 assists compared to seven for the opposition, and Central Penn held a slight 55-50 edge in the rebounding department.
The Knights will return to action on Thursday evening, December 3, as Berkeley will take on The King's College in a Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest at the College of New Rochelle. Start-time for that game is scheduled for 6:00pm.
