Box Score

NEW YORK - Rutgers University-Newark's bid for its first post-season basketball championship came up just short as Brooklyn College earned a 63-58 overtime victory in the ECAC Metro/Upstate Championship title game in the West Quad Center.

Playing their second overtime game in two days in top-seeded Brooklyn College's home gym, the Scarlet Raiders got to overtime on a 3-point jumper by junior guard Arianna Williams with 25 seconds remaining. But the Bulldogs (22-7) led wire-to-wire in the extra period against a Rutgers-Newark team which was without its sophomore point guard Maria Simmons who was whistled for five personal fouls in the second half.

Senior forward Jade Howard capped her sterling career with team highs of 19 points and five steals plus a game-high 14 rebounds. For the second straight day including Saturday's extra-session semifinal win over the College of Staten Island, she played all 45 minutes.

Sophomore center Jasmine Lombard hit seven of 10 shots from the floor to finish with 14 points and seven rebounds while Williams hit all four of the Raiders' 3-point baskets on her way to a dozen points, four rebounds and five assists.

Senior center Sharee Gordon came off the bench for seven points, eight rebounds and a game-high three blocked shots while sophomore guard Shala Glenn dished off five assists, grabbed seven rebounds and netted three points before fouling out in the final seconds of overtime.

Simmons suffered through nightmarish 0-for-10 shooting night from the floor and scored just one point, but her play on both ends of the floor kept the Raiders in the fray. She totaled four assists, four steals and six rebounds before going to the bench with 2:49 left in regulation.

The Raiders got to overtime when Howard hauled in a missed jump shot and rifled the ball outside to Williams for the trey which knotted things at 50-50. The Bulldogs got the last chance to win in regulation, but tournament MVP Vanessa D'Ambrosi missed a buzzer-beating 3-point jumper.

D'Ambrosi, who netted nine of her game-high 20 points in overtime, buried a back-breaking trey with 32 seconds left after an inside bucket by Lombard had brought the Raiders to within two points at 58-56 in the final minute. Lombard put back a missed 3-pointer by Williams with just four seconds left to make it a 3-point game before freshman guard Chrissy Heyer iced the game with a pair of free throws on the other end.

Ambrosi, who connected on six of 15 shots from beyond the arc, posted a double-double with a dozen rebounds. Senior guard Nicole Francomano added a dozen points plus a game-high nine assists and a team-high five steals to help Brooklyn College produce 29 points off of 22 Raider turnovers.

Senior forward Megan Campbell registered 11 points and seven rebounds for the Bulldogs while senior center Asia Foster grabbed a team-high 13 rebounds. Senior forward Nacirema Mann came off the bench for nine points and five rebounds.

The loss ended an improbable season for the undermanned Scarlet Raiders who battled to the New Jersey Athletic Conference semifinals before making the second run to the ECAC title game in program history to finish with a 15-14 record under interim head coach Bill Zasowski.

Howard, who was a freshman on the 2012 team which fell in the ECAC finals to Stockton, finished her career at No. 3 on the R-N all-time scorers' list with 1,457 points. She also amassed 896 rebounds and 248 blocks while earning first-team All-NJAC honors three times.