ABINGTON, Pa. (December 10, 2016) – Four players scored in double figures to help the Rutgers University-Newark women's basketball team to a convincing 76-58 non-conference win at Penn State University-Abington Saturday afternoon.
 
"Every person that stepped on the court today contributed to the win," said Head Coach Ashley Cieplicki. "Having four players in double figures is key for us, and we need to continue improving each time out."
 
Rutgers-Newark improves to 2-7, while PSU drops to 4-3. The Scarlet Raiders return to action Wednesday night at 6 p.m. in a New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) game at Rutgers University-Camden.
 
After taking a 21-15 lead after one, Rutgers-Newark put together an excellent second quarter to cruise to the road win, holding the Nittany Lions to just eight points in the period while scoring 18 of their own.
 
Sophomore guard Faith Ashby had 20 points, five steals, five assists and four rebounds in an excellent performance, needing just 15 field-goal attempts. Senior guard Maria Simmons had 17 points, eight assists, five boards and three thefts, while senior guard Shala Glenn had 12 points, four assists and four rebounds. Freshman Louise Ann Borja had 10 points, four rebounds and three steals, and freshmen Hannah Ashby and Autumn Webster each scored six points.
 
Five-straight points from Webster and Glenn helped the Scarlet Raiders to a 17-9 lead midway through the first quarter, and a Faith Ashby layup with 3:56 left in the first made it 19-8 Rutgers-Newark. The lead would swell to 13, but the Nittany Lions ran off seven-straight points to get within six.
 
In the second, the Scarlet Raider defense flexed its muscles, holding the hosts off the scoreboard for the final 5:24 of the half while building a 16-point lead. Hannah Ashby drilled a three-pointer with eight seconds left in the period, while Faith Ashby tallied six points in the half-closing 10-0 run.
 
Back-to-back fastbreak layups from Simmons allowed the Scarlet Raiders to double up Abington with 7:21 left in the third (46-23), with a layup from Borja giving R-N its largest lead of the game (26).
 
Rutgers-Newark ripped off eight-straight tallies to push the lead all the way to 28 just 1:34 into the fourth quarter, and the Scarlet Raiders cruised the rest of the way to the win.
 
The efficient Raiders shot 47.5 percent from the field, 31.8 percent from deep and 13-for-26 at the line, totaling 14 steals and assists on 17-of-28 baskets. Newark totaled an excellent 18 fastbreak points and 21 tallies off the bench, tallying 34 points in the paint and 29 points off turnovers.
 
PSU-Abington shot 40.8 percent from the floor, 25 percent from distance and 66.7 percent at the line, totaling 38 boards and nine assists.
 
After getting a 69-61 win at New Jersey City University in their NJAC opener, the Scarlet Raiders had dropped four-straight games prior to Saturday's win. R-N will play at Camden Wednesday and visit Drew University Saturday to put a wrap on the 2016 portion of its schedule.