NEWARK, NJ – Despite a team-high 10 points apiece from senior Bimpe Fageyinbo (Morris Plains, NJ/Parsippany Hills) and junior Renee Edwards (Montville, NJ/West Milford), the Scarlet Raiders dropped their second straight contest to fall to 2-6 (1-1 NJAC) on the young season, following a 74-52 loss to Baruch.
NCAA Box Score
Fageyinbo added four rebounds and two steals in the loss, while Edwards tallied seven boards. Junior Courtney Vacca (Wayne, NJ/Wayne Hills) pulled down a team-high eight rebounds with sophomore Sasha-Ann Quashie (Hackensack, NJ/Paramus Catholic) tallying five points, seven rebounds and a career-high four blocks. Freshman Jared Tactuk (Wayne, NJ/Wayne Valley) netted eight points and grabbed four boards.
Finding themselves in an early 6-0 hole following a pair of baskets from Baruch junior center Latesha Reddick, Tactuk put the Scarlet Raiders on the board by finishing on a fast break at 18:13 to cut the lead to four.
After a Quashie put-back made it 8-5, Reddick would convert on her third straight field-goal to start the day pushing the Bearcat lead back up to five.
Six straight points from Fageyinbo would trim the lead to 12-11, before Bearcat sophomore Lorin Clarke netted a triple to make it 15-11, but Kehleay would answer with a trey of her own on the ensuing Scarlet Raider possession to once again make it a one-point affair.
Clinging to a 16-14 lead with just under nine minutes to play in the half, junior Christina Kelly netted back-to-back baskets while sparking a 13-2 Bearcat run to increase the lead to 13.
A three from senior Jayne Lin Jones (Rockaway, NJ/Newark Academy) and a layup from freshman Shatanay McCaskill (Paterson, NJ/Passaic County Tech) would pull the gritty Scarlet Raiders within eight at 27-19, but a 7-2 Bearcat run to close out the half pushed the Baruch lead back up to 13 entering the break.
Baruch would start the second half in much the same way they ended the first, going on a 13-3 run over the first five minutes of action to take a 47-24 advantage.
A jumper from Edwards, a pair of Fageyinbo free-throws and a three-point play from Tactuk would cut the lead to 17 at the 11:45 mark, but that was as close as the Scarlet Raiders would get, with the Bearcats holding steady the rest of the way sealing the victory.
Baruch junior captain Kaleia Davis (Bronx, NY/Herbert H. Lehman) led all scorers with 18 points to go along with 13 rebounds, while Reddick finished with 12 points and seven boards. Sophomore Monique Salmon (Bronx, NY/Truman) and senior Karlee Whipple (Lund, NV/Lund) finished with eight points and four rebounds apiece, while Kelly chipped in with seven points and seven boards.
Rutgers-Newark will travel to John Jay for a men's and women's basketball doubleheader on Wednesday, December 10, before returning home to face their third straight CUNY opponent in the form of York (NY) on Saturday, December 13.
