Scholastic Roundup: 4 to join 1,000 Point Club

February 24, 2023 Andy Furman

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No surprise here.

Not at all.

Brooklyn College’s senior guard Gianna Gotti, captured the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) Player of the Year Award at the Basketball Awards Luncheon hosted at Giando on the Water last week.

Head Coach Alex Lang was voted Coach of the Year, senior guard Ericka James, was selected as a First Team Conference All-Star and senior guard, Dasha Goodman, was picked for the conference’s Sportsmanship Team.

It is the third straight season that a Bulldog has been named CUNY Player of the Year.

As for Gotti, she surpassed 1,000 points for her collegiate career; second in the conference and seventh in the nation in scoring (22.0 ppg); leads the nation in steals with 140 this season; second in the conference is assists (5.5 apg); and leads the conference in assist-to-turnover radio (2.5); scored a career-high 38 points in a conference win at John Jay; scored 30 points or-more on four separate occasions during the regular season; had seven double-doubles on the season; named CUNYAC Player of the Week five times; four-time Met Basketball Writers Association Player of the Week; Named CUNY Scholar-Athlete of the Month (December).

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The Bulldogs went undefeated – 14-0 – in the conference for the third consecutive season and they’ve won 44 consecutive conference games. Alex Lang won Coach of the Year – the seventh CUNYAC Coach of the Year Award.

Gotti isn’t the lone 1,000-point basketball scorer locally.

St. Francis senior guard Alyssa Fisher scored her 1,000th career point on a long three-pointer at the 4:38 mark in the first quarter of last week’s game – a 74-56 loss – to St. Francis University in Loretto, Penna.

The Baton Rouge, La. native finished with 19 points. She’s the second-leading scorer in the Northeast Conference and has 425 points on the season. Freshman guard Tyra Myers led all scorers with 22 points.

Senior Emma Kiley scored 10 points last Saturday to become the latest 1,000-point scorer in St. Joseph’s University women’s basketball history. She also pulled-down nine rebounds and blocked a pair of shots in the Bears’ 99-63 loss at Mount St. Mary College.

Kiley’s moment came with 2:39 remaining in the second quarter. The center missed an initial layup but banked the ensuing attempt to reach 1,000 career-points. She becomes the first Bear to reach 1,000 points since program record-scorer and current assistant coach Kelly O’Donnell ’22 did so three games into the 2019-20 season. Aaniya Telford (Fontbonne Hall Academy) has eight points and seen rebounds in the loss.

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Brooklyn College’s men’s senior forward Elisha Park was named Second-Team All CUNYAC All-Star and fellow senior Kayin Olajide was selected to the conference’s Sportsmanship Team.

Park led the Bulldogs and ranked fourth in the conference scoring (15.6 ppg); second on the team in rebounding (6.8 rpg); second in the conference in three-point shooting percentage (40%); scored a season-high 30 points in a conference game against Hunter; scored 20 points or-more in seven different games this season.

Olajide led the Bulldogs in rebounding (7.1 rpg); second in the conference in steals (54); second on the team in scoring (13.2 ppg).

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In the volleyball battle of Brooklyn, Medgar Evers topped Brooklyn College, 25-19, 25-23, and 25-18 last week. Sebastian Perez, senior, hit .407 on the evening, leading all players with 14 kills in the season opener for Medgar Evers. He also tied for the match-high of 10 digs, while notching a match-high five service aces. Newcomer Carlos Abreu registered eight kills while adding 10 digs and Louis Caiola finalized his evening with eight kills while hitting .333. Senior setter Austin Romeo piled a whopping 30 assists on ethe night to lead all players – he recorded nine digs as well – and Isaac Akindipe added four kills, four service aces and a pair of digs.

Medgar Evers men’s basketball freshman guard Jacob Green was selected the CUNYAC Rookie of the Year, senior Mousa Sinera was voted a Second-Team All-Star, and Omar Bassiouni was tabbed to the Sportsmanship Team.

For the Cougars’ women’s squad, Anamaria Dzagnidze earned a spot on the Sportsmanship Team.

Sinera set an NCAA Division III single-game record pulling down 43 rebounds in a home game against Hunter College, January 31st. On Friday, February 3, 2023 he grabbed 21 rebounds against York giving him 1,000 boards for his career.

The CUNYAC Rookie of the Year, Green led all players in the conference in points-per-game (8.7); connecting on 50 trifectas in the process.

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Sophomore Kylie Grant scored a career-high 38 points as the Pratt Institute women’s basketball team honored seniors Kinako Miyake and Victoria Liu while the Cannoneers concluded their 2022-23 season with a 69-56 loss to Rosemont College at the Activity Resource Center last Friday.

For Grant she also pulled-down 13 rebounds for her 13th rebound- double-double and 24th straight game scoring in double figures.

For the men, junior Patrick O’Gorman joined Pratt’s 1,000-point scoring club as the Cannoneers honored seniors Aaron Nisbett and Julian Stoll in a 67-56 loss to Newport News Apprentice 67-56 on Senior Day, last Saturday. O’Gorman led the charge with 14 points, five assists and four rebounds. Nisbett had 10 points with five rebounds and three blocks.

The men’s and women’s track and field teams both collected a sixth-place finish at the 2023 Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference Indoor Championships last weekend.

Cristina Sancho-Spore and Siena Sujitno were the top point collectors, both just missing an individual podium finish. Sancho-Spore ran a personal-best 2:30.5 in the 800-meter run for fourth-place and aided the distance medley relay squad to a fifth-place finish.

Sujitno took fourth in the long-jump with a leap of 4.56 meters before placing sixth in the 60-meter dash with a time of 8.27.

For the men, Thomas Perrone secured seventh in the 800-meter run clocking in at 2:07.74 and Bruce Westgate took 10th in the mile (4:44.37).

Hosts Christopher Newport swept the men’s and women’s titles with UC Santa Cruz following in second place.

Sophomore Jason Raymond had a match-high 25 kills and Pratt’s men’s volleyball team opened their season topped Yeshiva last Thursday. Raymond hit .294 with his 25 kills; he also brought up seven digs and landed seven digs and landed three service aces. Classmate Devaun Longley followed with seven kills on a .333 hitting effort and a match-best six aces. Brooks Reid directed the offense with a 31-assist, 14-dig double-double – both career – and match-highs. The first-year setter also chipped in six kills and three aces. Sophomore Eli Toker also set a new career-high with five kills. Max Wang chipped in four kills, nine assists and eight digs.

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LIU’s women’s gymnastics team has set a new program record. The Sharks produced a 195.925 score Saturday in a tie with visiting Towson at Pratt recreation Center.

Syd Morris had a banner evening, producing a program record score of 39.275 in the freshman’s first-time competing in all-around – 9.800 on the vault, 9.850 on the uneven bars, 9.800 on the balance beam and a 9.825 on the floor exercise. Mara Titarsolej continued her remarkable work on the bars, producing a meet-high 9.900. Cael Bixler and Ilka Juk topped the meet with a 9.825 apiece on the beam.

The men’s volleyball team topped Fairleigh Dickinson for their first-ever conference volleyball match in NEC history, Friday. A pregame ceremony at Steinberg Wellness Center marked the inaugural match with NEC assistant commissioner Caitlin Hughes presenting a commemorative custom print to each head coach.

Kale Spencer had 17 kills to lead LIU. Luca Holanda had 23 assists and Gio Collazo contributed seven digs. The Sharks remained undefeated with a 3-2 win against St. Francis University (Loretto, Penna.) Saturday. Spencer led the Sharks with a team-high 16 kills, Livan Moreno had 14 kills and Caden Satterfield had 12.

The LIU women’s lacrosse team scored the game’s first five goals and earned their first win of the season – 13-6 over Quinnipiac. Lluna Katz had a hat trick and Leah Nonnenmann, Olivia Fantigrossi and Julia Trainor had two goals apiece.

The Sharks’ women’s hockey team now prepares for the NEWHA semifinals. LIU next hosts a NEWHA semifinal, March 1st at 3 pm. LIU enters the playoffs with a 18-13-3 record and 17-4-3 NEWHA mark—both win totals are records for the four-year-old program.

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St. Francis Brooklyn men’s volleyball team met FDU Saturday in their first-ever NEC match-up defeating the Knights in four sets. Patrick Rogers led the way with 17 kills, followed by a 14-kill performance by Bartek Zielinski, who registered a .400 hitting percentage. Canyon Tuman recorded nine kills on nine swings, for a perfect 1.000 hitting percentage. Lucas Blanco had 41 assists.

The Terriers’ women’s water polo team improved to 7-0 at the Mercyhurst Invitational, Sunday taking down the tournament hosts and Bucknell. Sydney deVroedt scored six times followed by a three-goal performance by Sofia Kolovou in the 15-9 win over Mercyhurst.

DeVroedt scored seven of the team’s 16 goals in the 16-14 win over Bucknell. She now has 39 goals in just seven games.

Andy Furman is a Fox Sports Radio national talk show host. Previously, he was a scholastic sports columnist for the Brooklyn Eagle. He may be reached at: [email protected] Twitter: @AndyFurmanFSR