Box Score

NEWARK, NJ – Rutgers-Newark mounted several late assaults, but The College of New Jersey cashed in at the free throw line to take a 73-69 New Jersey Athletic Conference win in The Golden Dome Arena.

Junior guard ShaQuanna Marshall tallied 12 of her 16 points and freshman guard Maria Simmons netted 11 of her 16 in the second half when the Scarlet Raiders (8-5, NJAC 4-3) reduced a 15-point deficit to as little as two points.

Sophomore guard Kylie O'Donnell, who finished with game highs of 19 points and six assists, made five of six free throws in the final 1:46 as the Lions (9-4, NJAC 5-1) made eight of 10 free throws in the final 2:08 to stave off the Raiders.

Marshall came off the bench for three steals and a pair of assists while Simmons finished with four assists.  Sophomore forward Jade Howard totaled 15 points and seven rebounds while freshman guard Laura Shakiri notched nine points in the opening minutes of the game. 

Junior forward Jasmine Daniels scored all eight of her points in the second half and added four rebounds and two assists.  High-scoring junior center Jewell Palmer was limited to a season-low one point, but she contributed five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

The balanced Lions got 15 points and five rebounds from sophomore forward Jessica Goldbach and a dozen points from junior forward Kelly Roddy.  TCNJ knocked down 10 of 18 shots from beyond the arc and hit 57.1% (24-42) of their shots from the floor.

Daniels hit a jumper with 32 ticks left to shrink the Lions' lead to 70-67 before sophomore guard Kelly Coughlin hit the first of two free throws with 16 seconds left to push the TCNJ lead back to four.  Daniels dropped in a layup off of a feed by Simmons with six seconds remaining to whittle the Raider deficit to 71-69, but O'Donnell knocked down both free throws after being fouled immediately on the ensuing inbounds play to ice the victory.

After junior guard Tiffany DeTulio, who finished with six points, six rebounds and four assists, hit a layup to push the TCNJ lead to 42-27 three minutes into the second half, Rutgers-Newark began to chip away at the lead.  A Howard jumper with 5:14 left reduced the deficit to 58-55, but Roddy answered with a pair of free throws ahead of a layup by Goldbach.

After a pair of free throws by Marshall pulled the Raiders to within four with 2:26 left, Coughlin and O'Donnell each knocked down a pair of charity tosses to give TCNJ some breathing room at 69-61 with 1:46 left.

Marshall nailed a trey with 1:32 left and added a free throw with 1:15 remaining to make it at four-point spread before O'Donnell hit the first of two free throws to set the score at 70-65 with 1:10 on the clock.

The first half looked a lot like a 3-point shooting contest with the Raiders knocking down their first four shots from long range to keep things close.  Shakiri nailed her third trey just 3:39 into the game to knot the score at 12-12, but the Lions, who notched a pair of threes in the early going, took the lead on a layup by Goldbach and R-N never pulled even again.

Duffy  drained a pair of treys and DeTulio knocked down a pair of shorter jumpers as the Lions went on a 17-7 run to take a 36-25 lead with 2:33 left in the opening period.  Duffy and O'Donnell dropped in two 3-pointers each as the Lions made six of 10 long-range jumpers in the first 20 minutes to take a 38-27 lead into the locker room.  After making their first four 3-point jumpers, the Raiders missed their next six to shrink their field goal percentage to 38.5 (10-26) while TCNJ connected on 58.3% (14-24) in the period to overcome 10 turnovers.

Rutgers-Newark is at Kean University for a doubleheader on Wednesday.  The women's game tips off at 6 p.m. with the men's contest to follow at 8.