In a rematch of last season’s CUNY Athletic Conference Championship game, the No. 1 seeded Baruch College Bearcats women’s basketball team beat the No. 3 seeded Lehman College Lightning on Feb. 22. Despite a late run to pull within three points of Baruch, the defending champion Lightning fell to the Bearcats 71-60.

With the victory Baruch earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.

Meanwhile, Lehman will play in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Metro NY/NJ Tournament.

The fierce rivals, who split their season series with one win each, battled the entire game. Baruch built its lead to as many as 22 points in the second half, but Lehman refused to quit. In the last 10 minutes of the game, Lehman outscored Baruch 30-13 to close a 20 point deficit to just three with two minutes to play.

But with 1:30 left in the game, Lehman junior standout Sally Nnamani launched a three pointer that would have tied the game. Instead, the shot bounced off the front rim. Baruch promptly went on an 8-0 run to seal the victory.

“We fought all the way to the end,” said Lehman Head Coach Eric Harrison. “We battled back from 22 points down and gave it every effort, but it was too big of a hill to climb back from.”

Lehman had a slow start, and Baruch capitalized on their mistakes, scoring 21 points off Lehman’s turnovers and grabbing 21 offensive rebounds.

Baruch senior Chiresse Paradise led Baruch with 21 points and nine rebounds to be named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Nnamani, the Conference Player of the Year for the past two seasons, led all scorers with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Nnamani and Paradise along with Lehman junior Whitney Barnes and Baruch senior Dominique McClendon were named to the All-Tournament team after the game.

“Tonight’s victory was probably one of the most important because it gave us redemption from the loss [against Lehman on Feb. 9] that ended our 38-game win streak,” Paradise said.