John Jay 73, Farmingdale State 58
FARMINGDALE, NY | Senior Layla Mendoza (Westhampton Beach, N.Y.), junior Gemma Pohalski (Huntington, NY) and sophomore Victoria Kantzian (Staten Island, NY) combined for 31 points Wednesday night at the Walter A. Lynch Sports Center for the Farmingdale State College women’s basketball team, which fell to visiting John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 73-58, in the 2023-24 season opener for both sides.
Mendoza registered 13 points on the low blocks in her 10 minutes of action, with Kantzian (three steals) and Pohalski (five rebounds) tallying nine points apiece for the host Rams. Junior guard Isabella Greenwald (W. Islip, NY) finished two points shy of a double-double on the perimeter with eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds, while junior backcourt mates Jenna PIgnataro (Farmingville, NY) and Erin Conte (Melville, NY) tying Kantzian for the team lead with three swipes apiece on the defensive end of the floor.
Greenwald buried a trifecta four minutes in, before a pair of free throws by Kantzian and single charity-stripe efforts by Pohalski and Conte staked FSC to a 12-10 advantage with 4:06 left in the first period. The lead was tied three more times before the end of the opening 10 minutes of action, before Pohalski knocked down one more free throw in the closing seconds of the frame to give the Rams a 19-18 edge.
Kantzian collected a steal and a jumper in the opening seconds of the second stanza to give Farmingdale State a three-point lead, before a 15-2 spurt by the Bloodhounds put the visitors ahead for good.
Head coach Mark Dellecave‘s Rams will next take the floor in their first road contest of the season Tuesday night (Nov. 14), when they travel to Brooklyn for a 6 pm tip at Medgar Evers College.
