Highlights

NEWARK, N.J. (January 18, 2017) – The Rutgers University-Newark women's basketball team outscored visiting New Jersey City University 24-4 in the third quarter en route to a 67-43 New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) win Wednesday night in The Golden Dome.
 
Rutgers-Newark improves to 4-6 in the league and 6-11 overall, and the Scarlet Raiders return to action Saturday at Montclair State University in another NJAC matchup. NJCU drops to 4-13 overall and 0-10 in the league with the loss.
 
NJAC Standings
 
"They challenged us early to play better defense, and we were able to step up and do exactly that," Rutgers-Newark Head Coach Ashley Cieplicki said after the win. "Our defense was excellent in the second half, and Nicole Skelly really played monster game for us on the boards."
 
Leading the Scarlet Raiders was senior guard Maria Simmons who had a 16 points, eight rebounds, five steals and four assists. Sophomore guard Faith Ashby totaled a game-high 17 points, six rebounds, three steals and two helpers, while freshman guard Louise Ann Borja had nine points and two boards. Senior guard Shala Glenn added six points, six rebounds and two steals, while freshman Hannah Ashby had eight points, three rebounds and three thefts, and junior forward Nicole Skelly notched four points, eight big rebounds, two assists and steal.
 
NJCU was led by junior forward Shege Haxhaj who had a double-double of 11 points and 15 rebounds, and senior guard Kiana Briggs who tallied 12 points.
 
The Rutgers-Newark defense played a key role, forcing 29 NJCU turnovers and pouring in 27 points off those turnovers. R-N also held the Gothic Knights to 22.2 percent shooting for the game (12-for-54). The Raiders doubled up the Knights in points in the paint (32-16), but NJCU did finish with a 50-45 margin on the glass.
 
Rutgers-Newark shot 34.8 percent from the field, 22.2 percent from deep and went 13-for-20 at the charity stripe.
 
NJCU closed the first quarter with eight-straight points to take a 14-10 margin, but Rutgers responded with an 11-2 rally keyed by five points from Simmons and four from Glenn to take a 21-16 edge midway through the second, eventually settling on a 32-27 lead at the break.
 
The Scarlet Raiders held NJCU off the scoreboard for the first 4:34 of the second half, and they were able to build a 13-point edge over that span. Junior forward Nikki Sammartino turned a Glenn offensive rebound into two points to get the scoring started, and a Borja bucket made it 40-27 in favor of the hosts. A three-pointer from Hannah Ashby on a splendid feed from Faith Ashby gave Rutgers-Newark a 54-31 margin, and a Skelly layup with 16 ticks to play in the third quarter gave the Scarlet Raiders a 25-point lead after three.
 
The Rutgers-Newark defense continued to play well in the fourth, allowing just 12 points and maintaining a very comfortable lead throughout.
 
Newark finished the final 20 minutes of game time allowing just 16 total points, and the Scarlet Raiders outscored the Gothic Knights 14-2 on the fastbreak. Nine different Scarlet Raiders found their way on the scoreboard as freshman guard Genesis Bayron drilled a long two-pointer to close the scoring for Newark late.

Did you know? Rutgers-Newark went 4-14 in NJAC play in 2015-16 and has already matched that win total in eight less games this year.