GALLOWAY, N.J. (December 12, 2015) - Despite junior guard
Maria Simmons and senior guard
Arianna Williams combining for 48 points, the Stockton University women's basketball team defeated Rutgers University-Newark by a score of 88-67 Saturday in a New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) game at the The Sports Center.
Rutgers-Newark falls to 4-6 overall and 1-4 in the NJAC, while Stockton improves to 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the conference. The Scarlet Raiders will now break from games for finals and winter recess before taking part in the Salem State Holiday Classic in Salem, Mass. on December 29 and 30. R-N will battle Wheaton College in their first game of the new semester on the 29th.
The Scarlet Raiders played one of their best quarters of the season in Saturday's second period, scoring 27 points and turning a 14-point deficit into a tie game at the break. After being outscored 25-11 in the game's first 10 minutes, a Simmons three-point play and a three-pointer from Williams pulled the Scarlet Raiders within 10, before a three from Williams and Simmons jumper made it a seven-point game with less than four minutes remaining in the half.
Williams' third three of the quarter sliced the lead to two (34-32), and after Stockton went back up six, Williams, senior forward
Samantha Chirichello and Simmons helped Rutgers close the quarter on 6-0 rally to knot the game at 38-all heading into intermission.
Stockton was able to pull ahead for good in the third quarter, going on an early 9-2 run to start and closing on an 8-1 spurt to take a 15-point advantage heading into the game's final quarter. The Ospreys continued to extend in the fourth, eventually settling on the 88-67 final.
Simmons finished with 28 points on 10-of-22 shooting, adding seven rebounds, six assists and five steals for another splendid all-around performance. Williams had 20 points on the back of five three-pointers, also picking up three steals, two boards and two blocked shots. Junior guard
Shala Glenn had nine points and three rebounds, and sophomore guard
Nicole Skelly registered five points and four rebounds.
Rutgers-Newark shot 31.9 percent (22-for-69) from the field and 7-for-16 from long range (43.8 percent), hitting on 72.7 percent of its free throws (16-for-22). The Raiders were minus-seven on the glass (39-46), compiling 10 steals and seven assists as a team.
Stockton made 50 percent of its shots (32-for-64), going 8-for-18 from distance and assisting on 50 percent of its baskets (16-of-32). Freshman forward April Peterson (18), junior guard Taylor Christina (17) and sophomore forward Njaha Treadwell (16) led the Ospreys with Treadwell pocketing a double-double thanks to 11 rebounds.
For the Scarlet Raiders, Simmons has now scored 15 points in every game this season, breaking the 20-point plateau four times. She tied her season-high of 28 from the team's victory over New Jersey City University on November 24 in The Golden Dome Arena. It is also her eighth time this year grabbing five or more rebounds and she dished out five or more assists for the seventh time. The 20-point performance for Williams was her third in as many games and fifth overall. She is averaging 7.6 rebounds per outing and has made multiple three-pointers in eight different games.
