The Berkeley College women's basketball team dropped its third straight contest to begin the 2017-2018 season, falling to the Mariners of the United States Merchant Marine Academy by a score of 70-49 Saturday afternoon. The game was played at the James W. Liebertz Gymnasium in Bronxville, NY. The Knights are now 0-3 on the year, while the Mariners improved their record to 3-1.
Despite the loss for the Knights, Berkeley College was paced by Ayana Ratliff, as she scored a team-high 18 points to go along with four rebounds and a pair of steals. Ashley Duplan added 15 points and two steals, and Jaiyamoira Myers and Crystal Miller netted seven and five points, respectively.
In the victory for the Mariners of USMMA King's Point, Kaleigh D'Arcy led all scorers with 22 points on eight-of-10 shooting. She connected on all three of her shots from beyond-the-arc, while also snatching six rebounds. Tichina Carmon added 14 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and two steals, and Shelby Peters posted a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Berkeley College held a 5-3 edge 6:44 into the game, but USMMA King's Point would finish the first quarter in strong fashion, outscoring the Knights 7-0 to take a 10-5 lead after 10 minutes of action. The Mariners' seven consecutive points came courtesy of a D'Arcy converted layup, a D'Arcy made free throw, and layups by Peters on back-to-back possessions.
The Knights would start the second quarter on a positive note, as Ratliff would drain a three-point basket just three seconds into the period to pull Berkeley College to within two points – 10-8. The Mariners responded by scoring nine consecutive points over the ensuing 4:34 to take a 19-8 lead with 5:23 remaining in the half. That 9-0 spurt was highlighted by baskets from D'Arcy and Peters, and five straight points from Carmon. USMMA King's Point would go up by as many as 15 points, before taking a 25-12 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
In the second half, the Mariners would take a 19-point lead, going ahead by a score of 37-18. Berkeley College refused to go away, though, as the Knights would put together a 12-3 run over a span of 2:49 to stay within striking distance and pull to within 10 – 40-30 – with 2:44 remaining in the third quarter. That 12-3 run featured three triples from Duplan, as she kept her team within striking distance. After Carmon made a layup for USMMA to extend the lead back to 12 points (42-30), a made free throw by Berkeley's Myers – as well as a basket by Crystal Miller – made it 42-33 in favor of the home team. The third quarter would eventually come to a close with the Mariners holding a 46-35 lead.
The fourth quarter was not the Knights' best defensively, as Berkeley College would allow 24 points in the session while only scoring 14 of their own, eventually going on to lose the contest by 21.
For the afternoon, Berkeley College connected on 28.1 percent of its attempts from the floor (18-64) compared to a 40.6 percent conversion rate for USMMA King's Point (26-64). The Mariners out-rebounded the Knights by a final count of 51-41, while also scoring 27 points off of turnovers compared to Berkeley's 17. USMMA dominated in the paint, netting 36 points to the Knights' 24.
Berkeley College will have an opportunity to redeem itself fairly quickly, as the Knights will take on the Golden Eagles of the College of St. Elizabeth tomorrow afternoon at the Borough of Manhattan Community College. Start-time for that contest is scheduled for 1:00pm.
