MONTCLAIR, N.J. (December 2, 2017) – The Rutgers University-Newark women's basketball team suffered a tough New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) loss on the road against Montclair State University, 54-43. The Scarlet Raiders fall to 4-3 (1-2 NJAC) while the Red Hawks improve to 6-1 (3-0 NJAC).
R-N was led by junior
Faith Ashby who poured in a game-high 19 points while shooting 6-of-13 from the field and 7-for-8 from the free throw line. She also added team-bests of four steals and three assists while sharing squad-high honors with sophomore
Autumn Webster as they each grabbed five rebounds.
Barbara Hairs-Jackson was the other scorer in double-digits as the sophomore netted 13 points, also on 6-for-13 shooting from the field. Hairs-Jackson and Ashby accounted for nearly 75% of Newark's offense.
In the low-scoring affair, the Scarlet Raiders got off to a strong start. Ashby drained a jumper on the team's first offensive possession and Hairs-Jackson found the bottom of the net off a feed from Webster to make it 4-0. Still, the Red Hawks recovered quickly and erased the deficit with a 10-2 surge that made it 12-8 in favor of the home side. MSU stretched its lead to 17-10 but sophomore
Ania Harrell scored a lay-up to make it 17-12 at the end of the first quarter.
Rutgers-Newark struggled in the second period as the Red Hawks took control of the game, outscoring the visitors 11-2 to take a 28-14 advantage into the locker rooms.
The Scarlet Raiders came out of the break strong with Hairs-Jackson knocking down a jumper and a pair of Ashby freebies closing the gap to 28-18. Unfortunately, that was as close as the visitors would get. Montclair State continued to build on its lead and went into the final period up 45-28.
R-N's offense came to life in the fourth quarter as the visitors outscored MSU 15-9 but could only close the gap 11 points. Ashby racked up 10 points in those 10 minutes alone while her free throws with 32 seconds remaining made the final tally 54-43.
The Scarlet Raiders return to the hardwood for a non-conference matchup in The Golden Dome against Wilkes on Monday with a 7 p.m. tip-off.
