Box Score BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Despite a valiant effort, the Medgar Evers women's basketball team dropped a 72-67 decision to St. Joseph's College (L.I.) Wednesday in their 2015-16 debut Tuesday night at the Cougars Cave.
 
Danyelle Foster (Brooklyn, N.Y./Newton) posted a double-double in her first game with the Lady Cougars (0-1), tallying a team-high 22 points and 15 rebounds. Nia Tompkins (Queens, N.Y./Young Women's Leadership Academy) added 20 points, while Kimonia Mullings (Queens, N.Y./Flushing) chipped in with double-double of her own (10 points, 11 rebounds) in a losing effort. Ashley Desir also finished with five points, five assists and six rebounds.
 
For the Golden Eagles (1-1), Andrea Iavarone notched her second straight double-double with a game-best 23 points and 14 rebounds to lead four players scoring in double figures. Asia Rountree netted 14 points and corralled 12 boards, while Jackie Zizzo (14 points) and Rynese Smith (10 points) added to the balanced attack.
 
The first quarter saw both teams struggling with the shot, but were each playing with aggression on both ends. St. Joseph's would take a four-point lead at the end of the first. In the second, Medgar would work their way back thanks to Foster, Mullings and Desir. They would go up five with less than three minutes left, but the Golden Eagles wouldn't quit. A Jennifer Gubell lay up gave them a 36-35 lead at intermission.
 
Up five halfway through the third, the Lady Cougars would allow a 14-2 run led by Iavarone with eight points in the stanza as they would trail 52-48 at the end of the quarter. They would push their lead to as much as 11 points, thanks to two three-pointers by Zizzo that put them up 71-60 with 53 seconds remaining.
 
Medgar Evers refused to quit, getting a three and a lay-up from Tompkins along with a Mullings lay in to cut the deficit to four. But they would run out of time as St. Joseph's secured their first win of the season.
 
Up next for the Lady Cougars, they travel to Annville, Pennsylvania for the Rinso-Marquette Tip-Off where they will take on FDU-Florham on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. They will follow that up with a game Sunday against either Lebanon Valley or Shenandoah. Live stats and video will be made available at the Lebanon Valley website.