Season Preview
HACKENSACK, N.J. (November 10, 2017) – The Rutgers University-Newark women's basketball team closed out its preseason with a trip to Division I Fairleigh Dickinson University for an exhibition game tonight.
While the Scarlet Raiders dropped the contest 76-40, Head Coach
Ashley Cieplicki was upbeat about her team's positioning days away from their regular season debut: "I was proud of the way we played in the second, and I think we learned a lot playing against a good Division I team. We have been making a lot of progress as a team and that continued tonight, and we saw a lot of good things from up and down the roster. We are excited for Wednesday night."
Rutgers-Newark was led by junior
Faith Ashby who poured in a game-high 18 points while adding four assists, four rebounds, and a steal. Sophomore
Hannah Ashby joined her in double-digits with 10 points including three baskets from downtown. Sophomore
Barbara Hairs-Jackson pulled down a team-best seven rebounds.
R-N begins its regular season on Wednesday November 15 against FDU-Florham at 6 p.m. on the road before hosting its John K. Adams Tip-Off Classic on November 17 and 18 in The Golden Dome.
The Scarlet Raiders struggled in the first half against the Knights but played a much stronger second stanza. FDU started the third quarter in control, opening the period on a 15-5 run but Rutgers-Newark had a 6-0 spurt behind buckets from three different players that pulled the visitors to within 15-11. A jumper by sophomore
Autumn Webster ended the scoring for the period as R-N was only outscored by a respectable 19-13 for the quarter.
The final period was even more competitive. The Knights scored seven of the first nine points but
Faith Ashby responded quickly with a jumper that sparked an 11-5 surge. That run was capped by a pair of 3-pointers from
Faith Ashby and
Hannah Ashby to give the Scarlet Raiders a slight 13-12 edge in the quarter. Still, FDU closed out the scoring with a trifecta of its own to take the fourth 15-13.
Rutgers-Newark was vastly improved offensively in the second half, shooting 35.71% from the field compared to 17.39% in the first as the team grew into the game and adjusted to its DI competition.
Fans should follow @RN_WBB and @ScarletRaiders on both twitter and Instagram for the latest all season long.
