UNION, N.J. (February 3, 2016) - Junior guard Maria Simmons scored a career-high 31 points to lead the Rutgers University-Newark women's basketball team to a 73-69 New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) win at Kean University Wednesday night.

Simmons shot 13-for-23 from the field and hit three three-pointers in a sparkling performance, adding nine assists, eight rebounds and two steals to her line. Simmons scored 28 points twice this season, 27 once and 26 two other times but never crossed 30 until Wednesday. The third year Scarlet Raider has scored in double figures every outing but one this season and has 20-plus in nine games.

The Scarlet Raiders improve to 3-11 in the conference and 7-14 overall, while Kean drops to 13-8 overall and 8-6 in the conference.

It was a neck-and-neck battle from the start as the two teams were tied after one, Kean had a two point lead at the half and the Cougars led 48-47 heading into the final period before R-N came back to get the NJAC win.

Senior guard Arianna Williams - who had an excellent game as well with 25 points on 9-for-16 shooting, eight rebounds, four steals and three assists - started the Raiders off strong in the fourth with one of her three triples to give the guests a two-point lead at 50-48.

A Kean three helped the hosts to a two-point margin with 7:34 left, and a layup for the Cougars made it 60-56 1:33 later. Williams answered with a three to pull her team back within one, before a Simmons jumper gave the Scarlet Raiders the lead (61-60) midway through the quarter.

With a shade under four to play, Simmons hit another jumper to push the R-N lead to three points, but four-straight Cougar points helped them reclaim the lead with 2:54 on the clock.

Back-to-back Simmons buckets around one made free throw from Kean put R-N on top by two at 69-67 with 1:20 to go, and after Kean was able to get within one, Simmons buried her final three of the night - thanks to an assist from Williams - to lock up the conference victory.

Sophomore guard Nicole Skelly had 11 points and four rebounds for Rutgers-Newark, and junior guard Shala Glenn had six points and five rebounds. Sophomore forward Nikki Sammartino finished with eight rebounds.

Junior guard Jaquetta Owens led Kean with 22 points and five assists, and freshman guard Marajiah Bacon had 19 points and two steals.

Rutgers-Newark shot 44.1 percent from the floor (30-for-68) and 41.2 percent (7-for-17) from three. R-N committed just 14 turnovers and had 15 assists, while Kean held a 44-42 edge on the glass. The Rutgers defense held the Cougars to 39.7 percent shooting (27-for-68) from the field and 5-for-22 (22.7 percent) from three.

Kean raced out to a 7-2 lead early on, but the Scarlet Raiders tied things at 17 after one on the back of a Williams triple. In the second, R-N was the team that jumped on top, using a 7-0 run to start the quarter, but the Cougars came back to tie things at 24 and eventually took a 32-30 lead into intermission.

The hosts came out strong in the second to build an eight point lead (38-30), and the see-saw affair continued with Glenn keying an 8-2 run to get her team within two. Kean went back on top by eight, but the Scarlet Raiders responded with a 9-2 run to close the quarter to send the game into the fourth with the scoreboard showing 48-47 in favor of Kean.

The Scarlet Raiders will look to make it two wins in a row Saturday night when they host William Paterson University in The Golden Dome Arena at 6 p.m. The game will be played in support of Hedda Sivertsson (#TEAMHEDDA) who Rutgers-Newark adopted through the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation and all proceeds will go to the foundation.

NOTE: The close game featured eight ties and 15 lead changes.