Feb. 22, 2011

For the fourth time in five seasons, the Lehman Lightning women's basketball team is headed to the City University of New York Athletic Conference/Con Edison championship game, this time after knocking off second seeded Brooklyn College 54-39 on Tuesday night.

Looking to reverse its fortunes against a Brooklyn team that had defeated it earlier in the season, 62-54, albeit without two of the Lightning's “Big Three,” Louvinia Hayes and Jaleesa Gordon, Lehman found itself in a low-scoring defensive battle from the outset as both teams combined to shoot 15-for-62 over the game's first 20 minutes.

Despite the Lightning's leading scorer Hayes struggling to find her outside shot (1-for-9) and the team being outrebounded 30-18, Lehman still managed to take a 20-18 lead into the break, a result of forcing 17 Bulldogs' turnovers and some inside muscle from Gordon (5 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks).

The Queens product continued her strong play out of the intermission, collecting six of the Lightning's first 10 points as Lehman slowly started to creep ahead. A layup by Gordon with 15:30 remaining gave Lehman a 30-23 lead.

One of the hallmarks of Coach Eric Harrison's teams over his 13 seasons with the Lightning has been his run and gun style on the offensive end with no shot seemingly a bad one. The adage would seem to ring truer when his team features one of the better pure shooters in the conference in the 5-foot-7 Hayes, who at times Harrison has had to prompt to shoot more often. But even when she's not completely on her game, Hayes, like any good shooter, will try to shoot herself out of her funk. More often than not when those shots do start falling, they often come at the most opportune times for her team.

“A lot of Lou-Lou Hayes' shots are difference makers,” said Harrison about a trend that continued against the Bulldogs.

Following Gordon's mini personal run and with Lehman ahead 30-24, Hayes first buried a three-pointer. Two possessions later she was fouled on a three-point attempt by Ariel Smith and converted two of her three attempts. Then, on a wild sequence that saw Paula Robinson misfire on a fastbreak layup, Hayes spotted up in the far left corner in front of the Lehman bench to drill another three-pointer, a play that only happened because of a hustling Maquasia Campbell, whose offensive rebound kept the possession alive.

With Hayes starting to find the range, Lehman was in the midst of pulling away with a 16-1 run that left Brooklyn trailing 42-24 after a layup from Gordon.

However, the game took a turn in Brooklyn's favor when Hayes was forced to depart the action with 7:28 remaining after picking up her fourth personal foul and the Lightning leading 46-30. Shortly after, Brooklyn's Amber Gordon canned a three-pointer that sent a bit of a scare through the Lightning sideline. Though it only drew the Bulldogs to within 13, Gordon's shot was the final points of a 7-2 Brooklyn run that felt as if it had the potential to shift the game's momentum yet again.

Not wanting to take any chances, Harrison reinserted Hayes with around five and a half minutes to play.

“We knew that Brooklyn was going to full court press on makes at that point in the game,” said Harrison. “I wanted Hayes to have the ball in her hands on the offensive end. Putting her back in gave us four ballhandlers out on the floor to attack the press.”

Of the Lightning's final eight points, Hayes scored four of them, both on driving layups, the second of which gave her team an insurmountable 50-34 lead with 1:38 left. Hayes final layup gave her 14 second half points, ultimately tying her with Gordon for the team lead with 17 total points. The Bronx native, in combination with De La Cruz, also did a noteworthy defensive job on Brooklyn's Ariel Smith, who finished with just five points on 2-for-14 shooting.

For Gordon, her second half was equally as good as her first, as she finished the night with a stellar line of 17 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots. De La Cruz played through an injury sustained during the game to score 13 points while Campbell was active on the glass in grabbing eight rebounds.

The win sets up the third meeting of the season between the Lightning and Baruch College, a 91-59 winner over John Jay earlier in the evening, with the final scheduled for Saturday at 3 p.m.

Predicted Harrison, “This is going to be one of the most epic CUNY games in years.”