Women’s Basketball The Lady Knights started the second semester with a bang, knocking off two Division I powerhouses, Palm Beach Community College and Broward CC. The Lady Knights almost completed a sweep of their Florida road trip but fell, 57-53, in a close contest against Miami Dade College.

The Lady Knights have been building momentum towards this weekend’s CCRI Invitational, where they will face Harcum College on Saturday at 5 p.m. and No. 15 Union County College Sunday at 4 p.m. From there they will have no time to rest as they will face No. 1-ranked (NJCAA Division III) Monroe College the Division III defending National Champions on Monday in their annual Martin Luther King Holiday match-up. From there the Knights will have the advantage of playing nine of their final 12 games in the friendly confines of the Cullen Field house, where they hope the home stretch will allow them to build the necessary momentum as they move forward into postseason play. Men’s Basketball The CCRI Knights men’s basketball team has an 11-6 record overall, 6-1 record in Region XXI play and is ranked no. 8 by the National Junior College Athletic Association in Division II (NJCAA DII). They recently went through a challenging stretch that saw them play seven straight games on the road, losing five in a row. Though the Knights are going through a bit of a rough patch, the team is poised to reverse that trend as they play 12 of their next 16 games at home. CCRI’s second-semester quest will begin on Saturday when the Knights face Division I power Harcum College at 5 p.m. in the CCRI Invitational. The Knights will play either Genesee CC versus Monroe College on Sunday. Indoor Track The CCRI Men’s and Women’s track team kicked off their seasons in Connecticut at the 27th Yale Intercollegiate Track Classic on Saturday. And CCRI’s runners got the season off to a tremendous start.

The Knights were led by freshmen sprinter Blest Norris (Gross Point, MI) who placed seventh in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.064 seconds while middle-distance runner Evert LaMountain (Smithfield) placed 21st in the mile-run with a time of four minutes, 40.9 seconds.

The Knights displayed their depth in the 400. Jay LaRose (Pawtucket) was CCRI’s first runner to cross the finish line, completing the even in 57.28 seconds finishing. Teammates Adewole Akinbi (Providence) finished 59th in 1:01.45 and Anthony Manfredi (Warwick) placed 60th with a time of 1:03.06.

The men also had great success in the field portion of the meet as Cory Dozier (Blackstone, Mass.) finished in the top 25 in two events. He placed 16th in the triple jump with a jump of 38 feet, 9 1/2 inches and took 24th in the long jump at 17 feet, 9 inches.

On the women’s side the Lady Knights had Kayleigh Smith (Cumberland) finished the 400 with a time of 1:16.46, which was good enough for 46th place. Sophomore Dinah Quintanilla (Lincoln), competing in her first intercollegiate race, finished 49th in the 60-meter dash with a time of 10.81.

The Knights’ track team will be back in action in two weeks on when they travel back to Connecticut this time to participate in the Wesleyan Invitational.