• Box Score

OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. (Jan. 30, 2012) - Junior Chloe Johnson (Sea Cliff, N.Y.) led all players with 18 points and 12 rebounds to help NYIT women's basketball to a 75-66 win over Dominican College Monday evening. It was her first double-double of the year. With the win the Bears improved to 13-7 on the season, while the Chargers dropped to 9-8 overall.

"I am proud we are at 13 wins before February," added Crocitto. "It is nice to beat a team that sits atop another conference. But, we need to stay focused and hot heading into the final East Coast Conference stretch. To be where we are without Cierra Baker is a testament to how hard these student-athletes are working and how much they believe in the program."

Three other Bears also scored in double-digits. Sophomore Demitra Apergis (Littleton, Colo.) added 15 points, junior Nikki Jo Rotolo (Rome, N.Y.) chipped in with 14 points and junior Rebecca Lynch (Hillsdale, N.J.) had 12 points. Apergis also dished out a game-high seven assists.

"It was a terrific day for Chloe Johnson as she and Nikki Jo got us going early in the game," said head women's basketball coach Anthony Crocitto. "Chloe shot the ball and rebounded extremely well at times. Seeing the bench produce more here and there [17 rebounds and some buckets] was nice but they have to do a better job closing out the game. We are only as good as our bench and as strong as our weakest player."

The score was tied only once at 7-7 at 16:50 in the first half. After that, the Bears pushed to a 10 point 19-9 edge on two three-pointers and a jumper from Johnson. However, the Chargers chipped away at the gap and brought the score within one point 23-22 with 7:25 to play. Play continued that way for the next minute until NYIT pulled head 38-30 to end the first half.

NYIT continued its momentum and climbed to a 21-point lead, 57-36, on a three-pointer by Alexandra Venuto (Ossining, N.Y.) with 12:37 to play. The Bears hit that mark twice more with the last time at 3:46. From there, Dominican put together a last minute 13-1  run that made the final score 75-66.

For the Chargers, K.C. Jentzen had 15 points and Lashonda Hathorne tallied 11 points and seven rebounds.

The Bears return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 1 when they battle the Pioneers of C.W. Post in the "Battle of the Boulevard." tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.