The Berkeley College women's basketball team lost a pair of games this past weekend. On Saturday, January 14th, the Knights were edged by HVIAC foe Word of Life, falling to the Huskies by a score of 44-40. A day later, on January 15th, Berkeley was defeated by the Bobcats of Bryant & Stratton-Albany, 71-38. With the two losses, the Knights are now 1-15 on the 2022-2023 campaign (0-2 HVIAC). Word of Life improved to 4-6 on the season (1-0 HVIAC), and Bryant & Stratton-Albany improved to 7-6.

 

Leading the way for the Knights against the Huskies was Beulah Dixon Blake, as she finished with a team-high 13 points while snatching five rebounds and swiping three steals. Mia Lashley knocked down all six of her attempts from the free throw line, finalizing her evening with 10 points, six rebounds, and five steals, and Zanya Henderson collected a game-high 14 rebounds.

 

For Word of Life, MJ Buck led all scorers with 22 points. She also snatched a team-best eight boards, while tallying a game-high eight steals. Kayli Hayden struggled with her shooting, as she connected on just three of her 23 attempts from the floor, but she still finished with seven points, six rebounds, a game-high five assists, and three steals, and Grace Saunders and Melody Parker pulled down seven boards apiece.

In what was a very low-scoring contest that didn't produce much in the way of offense, the first quarter saw neither team reach double digits on the scoreboard. The opening 10 minutes of action featured four ties, and neither squad led by more than three points. After one quarter, the HVIAC clash was tied at nine apiece.

 

The Knights scored the first five points of the second quarter, thanks to a converted layup by Blake, a made free throw by Henderson, and a bucket by Christa Williams. With that spurt, Berkeley led 14-9 with 7:22 left in the half. Word of Life responded with a 7-0 run over a span of 3:54 to grab a 16-14 edge, but Blake completed a three-point play, converting on a bucket and making a free throw, to put Berkeley back ahead 17-16. Blake would add another freebee 12 seconds later, as the Knights went up 18-16, but there would only be one more bucket for the rest of the half, courtesy of Word of Life, as the teams headed into the locker room tied at 18 apiece.

 

The third quarter featured six lead changes, with the Huskies ultimately outscoring Berkeley 14-13 to take a 32-31 advantage into the final period. 

 

Berkeley and Word of Life found themselves tied at 33-apiece with 5:53 left, but two Huskies baskets inside of 30 seconds put the hosts ahead 37-33. Word of Life would later lead by five, 40-35, with just 2:08 left, when Lashley would draw a foul. She would convert on both free throws to slice her team's deficit to three points at 40-37. From there, however, Berkeley would convert on just one more field goal and committ four turnovers, as Word of Life outscored the Knights 4-3 over the final 112 ticks to win the pivotal HVIAC clash by four, 44-40.

 

Neither team shot the ball well, with Word of Life connecting on just 28.8 percent of its shots (17-59) compared to a 20.9 percent conversion rate for Berkeley (14-67). The Knights did hold a 44-39 edge in the rebounding department, while also outscoring the Huskies' bench, 19-5. Word of Life held a slight edge in the assists column, tallying nine to Berkeley's six, and the Huskies netted 24 points in the paint, while the Knights had 20. Berkeley narrowly won the turnover battle, committing 29 miscues while the hosts had 30.

 

In the Knights' loss to the Bobcats a day later, Blake led her squad with a team-high nine points to go along with four rebounds. Henderson connected on three of her six attempts from the floor, finishing with seven points and eight boards, and Amal Mahmoud added six points and six boards.

 

Saige Roberts dominated  for the Bobcats, drilling 10 of her 19 attempts from the floor and finishing with a game-high of 28 points. She also snatched six boards, tied for the game-high of five assists, and added three steals. Janessa Iyana Jones scored 14 points in just 15 minutes off of the bench, and Haskina Gaddy hit five of her 10 attempts from the floor to finish with 11 points to go along with five boards. 

 

The Bobcats raced out to a 9-1 advantage in the opening 2:56 of action. Bryant & Stratton-Albany led by as many as 11 in the first quarter, before finishing the period holding a 22-13 edge. The Bobcats dominated the second quarter, outscoring Berkeley 12-5 and only allowing two field goals. At the half, Bryant & Stratton-Albany held a 34-18 lead.

 

In the second half, the Bobcats continued to play aggressively, leading by 25 points after three quarters, and eventually winning by 33, which was their biggest advantage of the afternoon.

 

Bryant & Stratton-Albany connected on 29 of its 78 shots from the floor (37.2 percent), while the Knights hit on 30.8 percent of theirs (16-52). The Bobcats out-rebounded Berkeley 45-35, while also registering 20 assists to the Knights' nine. Bryant & Stratton-Albany also won the turnover battle, committing just 13 miscues, while the visitors had 18.

 

Berkeley will return to the court on Thursday evening, as the Knights host the Maccabees of Yeshiva University. The game will take place at the Nat Holman Gymnasium on the campus of the City College of New York. Start-time is scheduled for 7:30pm.