BOX SCORE

Megan Bouwens scored a spectacular double-double of 24 points and 23 rebounds to lead the Baruch College Bearcats to an 87-60 victory against the Lightning of Lehman College in the CUNYAC/Con Edison Championship played on Saturday afternoon at CCNY’s Nat Holman Gymnasium.

With the result, the Bearcats (23-5) win their fourth straight CUNYAC Championship, fifth total in the past six years, and claim the CUNYAC’s automatic berth to the prestigious NCAA Division III National Tournament that is scheduled to begin on Friday, March 4.

The Bearcats will discover their first round NCAA opponent and location in a special online video announcement on Monday, February 28th, at 3:00 pm, via NCAA.com. The team will be making their fifth all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

Against Lehman (17-11), the Bearcats led from start to finish, but needed a big run midway through the second half to clinch the victory.

The Bearcats started by building a 17-point advantage (42-25) with 2:53 left in the first half, but Lehman scored the final 10 points to cut the lead to seven points (42-35) at halftime.

The turning point of the game took place with 11:30 remaining in the second half. Lehman missed a layup that would have cut the lead to five points, and the Bearcats responded by scoring the next 16 points to comfortably lead 69-46 with 7:09 left. That run was enough to help Monique Salmon win a CUNYAC Championship in each of her four years at Baruch College.
 
Michigan native Bouwens dominated the paint with her double-double (24 pts, 23 rbs) to earn the CUNYAC Tournament MVP Honors, while Regina Washington had the hot shooting hand this afternoon to earn CUNYAC All-Tournament Honors by connecting on 6-of-10 shots from three-point range to finish with 22 points and three steals.

Trista Thomas scored all 13 of her points in the second half to give Baruch important production off the bench to pull away from Lehman.

Overall, Baruch shot 40 percent (29-73 fg, 10-22 3fg) and used their defensive pressure to limit Lehman to 29 percent (22-76 fg, 5-16 3fg) shooting. They also won the rebounding battle with a 60-44 advantage.

CUNYAC All-Tournament Team
Ariel Smith, Brooklyn
Jamecia Forsythe, John Jay
Louvinia Hayes, Lehman
Amanda De La Cruz, Lehman
Regina Washington, Baruch

Tournament MVP
Megan Bouwens, Baruch

All-Time CUNYAC Women’s Championships by School
CCNY 10, Hunter 8, Staten Island 6, Baruch 5, Lehman 1, Brooklyn 1, John Jay 1

All-Time Baruch Women's Basketball Results in CUNYAC Championship
1994: #2 CCNY 41, #3 Baruch 35
1995: #2 CCNY 59, #4 Baruch 50
2006: #1 Baruch 73, #2 Staten Island 46
2007: #2 Lehman 52, #1 Baruch 51
2008: #1 Baruch 71, #3 Lehman 60
2009: #1 Baruch 64, #3 Lehman 63
2010: #1 Baruch 93, #2 Hunter 84
2011: #1 Baruch 87, #3 Lehman 60

2011 TOURNAMENT RESULTS
Quarterfinals (at higher seeds) - Saturday, Feb. 19
#1 Baruch defeated #8 CCNY, 75-41
#2 Brooklyn defeated #7 Staten Island, 79-62
#3 Lehman defeated #6 Hunter, 100-50
#4 John Jay defeated #5 York, 94-86

Semifinals at Nat Holman Gymnasium (CCNY) - Tuesday, Feb. 22
#1 Baruch defeated #4 John Jay, 91-59
#3 Lehman defeated #2 Brooklyn, 54-39

Championship at Nat Holman Gymnasium (CCNY) - Saturday, Feb. 26
#1 Baruch defeated #3 Lehman, 87-60