Box Score
NEWARK, NJ – Rutgers-Newark used balanced scoring to battle past Rutgers-Camden, 58-44, in its New Jersey Athletic Conference opener in The Golden Dome Arena.
Freshman guard
Maria Simmons paced the Scarlet Raiders (2-1, NJAC 1-0) with 13 points and six steals against the Scarlet Raptors (1-1, NJAC 0-1) while rookie guard
Laura Shakiri added a dozen points, seven rebounds, four steals and a pair of assists.
Junior forward
Jasmine Daniels and sophomore center
Jade Howard each netted 10 points. Daniels also posted team highs of eight rebounds and four assists while making two steals. Howard collared six rebounds. Junior forward
Jewell Palmer tied Daniels with eight boards and added seven points and a pair of blocked shots.
Raptor senior forward Brittany Turner drained 11 of 17 free throws on her way to a game-high 21 points, but she was the only visiting player to reach double digits in scoring. She also collected seven rebounds. Sophomore guard Lillian Chukwueze hauled down a game-high 10 rebounds while netting eight points while sophomore forward Irene Grimanis came off the bench for nine rebounds to help Rutgers-Camden forge a 58-52 advantage in rebounding.
Neither team could find the range in the early going with the Raiders enjoying a 2-1 lead after the opening six minutes of play.
Things loosened up during the final 10 minutes of the half with Rutgers-Camden tying the score three times before the Raiders went ahead for good with the final six points of the period. Shakiri nailed a 3-point jumper with 1:58 left in the period to break a 20-20 tie before a pair of free throws by Daniels and a free throw by Palmer gave the Raiders some breathing room at the break, 26-20.
Simmons drained a 3-point jumper and Palmer converted a conventional 3-point play to open the second half, giving the Raiders a 32-20 lead.
The Raiders led by as many as 15 points before a Turner went on a one-women rally by making seven of 10 free throws while Rutgers-Newark went scoreless for 2:47. Turner's charity tosses made it 44-37 with 6:13 left.
But Howard and Simmons had four points each to start a 12-0 Raider run to push the lead to 56-37with 2:45 remaining as Rutgers-Camden went cold for the final time.
The Raptors hit just 17.4% (12-69) of their shots from the floor while the Raiders managed to connect on 33.3% (20-60). Rutgers-Newark missed 19 of 33 free throws (42.4%) and committed 26 turnovers to the Raptors' 27 to keep things reasonably close until the final minutes.
Rutgers-Newark hosts Mount St. Mary in a non-conference game on Monday at 7 p.m. in The Golden Dome Arena.
