John Jay College of Criminal Justice women’s basketball standout Melissa Escalera (Bronx, NY/ Adali E Stevenson) was named the Hospital for Special Surgery CUNYAC Scholar Athlete of the Month for the month of Jan. 2007.
Escalera, a senior criminal justice major who has been a CUNYAC first team all star for three seasons, won the award after a stellar month of January for the John Jay women’s basketball team, who went 8-3 during the month, including 7-1 against conference opponents.
This month she recorded five double-doubles and averaged 18.1 points per game, including a 36 point performance in a 65-55 win over New York City Tech (1/17) and a 35 point showing in a 71-49 win against York College (1/19). She also averaged 9.5 rebounds per contest, while eclipsing her 1,000th career rebound during a 60-57 win at Lehman College (1/6).
Escalera has been a vital part of the success of the women’s basketball team this season as the Bloodhounds are 15-8 (8-3 CUNYAC) as of this point.
So far this season Escalera, who owns a 3.263 grade point average, has seen action in 20 of the team’s 23 games and leads the team in scoring (15.2) and rebounding (9.6).