Hunter College women’s basketball is aiming to claim its first CUNY Athletic Conference title since 2019 when the CUNYAC Tournament kicks off this weekend. With the title comes a trip to the NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Tournament. It has been a strong season for Hunter, finishing 18–7 overall and 11–3 in conference play. Standing in the Hawks’ way is Brooklyn College, which looks to six-peat. In the final regular season game, Brooklyn prevailed 68–54.
The not-so-secret weapon for Hunter is guard Alexa Charles, currently leading all of women’s college basketball—Divisions I, II and III—in scoring with an average of 31.3 points per game. Despite that lofty statistic, the senior accounting major puts the emphasis on team and thorough preparation.
“We’ve faced a lot of challenges that honestly made us grow and learn from our mistakes,” said Charles, who this week earned her ninth CUNYAC Player of the Week honor. “Right now, it’s just the race to the finish line.”
Charles puts her emphasis on work ethic and training in the off-season. Over the summer, she worked with a trainer on conditioning for games, many of which she plays a full 40 minutes. They worked on ball handling, shooting, cuts to the basket, midrange, three-pointers and finishing.
“Getting into basketball shape is no joke,” Charles said. “At this point, it’s second nature to me; I just play and it’s been going my way.”
A dominant scorer, she also credits her teammates for their winning record. “Everyone contributing is definitely a positive thing,” said Charles. “As much as I love doing what I do, sometimes it’s great to know that I have a support system and I can make a play to my teammates because they can put the ball in the hoop. As a leader, it shows me I can expect more from them.”
The now or never mindset is very real for Charles because once the season ends, she’s beginning her accounting career. In June, she started a position as an audit associate at PKF O’Connor Davies.
“I feel like my team can break the streak that Brooklyn’s been having,” she said. “The way that we’ve grown as a team … everything that you need to win a championship, I think we have. I know my team is ready for the moment.”