NEWARK, N.J. (February 11, 2017) – The Rutgers University-Newark women's basketball team was topped by visiting Rowan University Saturday night in The Golden Dome, falling by a final score of 80-62 in a New Jersey Athletic Conference contest.
Prior to the game, Rutgers-Newark honored three seniors playing in the final home game of their careers in guard
Sarah Schwartz, guard
Shala Glenn and guard
Maria Simmons. Schwartz was a five-year member of the program, Glenn has taken the court in each and every one of the Scarlet Raiders' last 102 games and Simmons is the only player in program history with 1,400-plus points, 500-plus rebounds, 500-plus assists and 350-plus steals.
Rutgers-Newark falls to 7-10 in the NJAC and 9-15 overall, while Rowan moves to 10-7 in the league and 16-8 overall. The Scarlet Raiders will visit The College of New Jersey Wednesday night at 6 p.m. in their regular-season finale. R-N needs to win and get some help to earn a berth in the upcoming NJAC Tournament.
NJAC Standings
After a slow start for each side, Rowan took a 14-8 lead late in the first quarter thanks to an 8-0 run, but a three-pointer from freshman guard
Autumn Webster stopped the run and pulled her team within three points after one.
The Profs ran off nine-straight points to start the second, but five-straight points from sophomore guard
Faith Ashby halted the Rowan rally and made it a 23-16 game.
An Ashby layup trimmed the Prof lead to five at 25-20, and the guests would settle on a 29-23 halftime lead. Ashby led the Scarlet Raiders with nine points, five rebounds and four steals in the first half.
The Profs came out with an 11-2 run to start the second half and led 40-25 4:59 in to the third quarter, forcing a Rutgers-Newark timeout. Back-to-back buckets out of the timeout for Simmons and freshman guard
Louise Ann Borja gave the Scarlet Raiders some momentum, but they could not slice into the deficit further and trailed 49-36 entering the fourth.
Four points for the guests pushed the lead to 17 (53-36) early in the fourth, and they opened a 20-point margin after four-straight points from guard Anyssa Sanchez with three minutes to play.
Simmons scored five points in a 7-0 rally for the Scarlet Raiders to trim the lead to 13 (73-60) with 2:03 on the clock, and a layup from Webster made it a 12-point game with 1:43 remaining. However, 12 would be as close as Newark could get, falling by the 80-62 final.
Ashby led the Scarlet Raiders with 22 points, seven rebounds and six steals, and Simmons finished with 18 points, five rebounds, five assists and a trio of thefts. Glenn had an impressive 12-point, 12-rebound double-double – her first of the season – and junior forward
Nicole Skelly notched four points and 10 rebounds. Freshman guard
Hannah Ashby had six rebounds and two steals, with Webster pocketing three points, three rebounds and three steals.
Rutgers-Newark shot 25.6 percent for the game and went 18-for-29 at the line. R-N posted a 54-49 margin on the glass and a 32-16 margin on the offensive boards, also picking up 20 steals in the game.
Rowan shot 47.6 percent from the field, 29.4 percent from three and 15-for-23 at the line, and the Profs were led by a double-double from Summer Crilley and 22 points and nine rebounds from Sanchez.
