NEWARK, N.J. (November 28, 2018) – The Rutgers University-Newark women's basketball team won its second straight New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) matchup over visiting Kean University tonight behind 26 points from senior Faith Ashby who eclipsed 1,000 points for her career in the 58-52 victory.

The Scarlet Raiders improve to 4-1 (2-0 NJAC) on the season while the Cougars fall to 2-3 (1-1 NJAC).

Rutgers-Newark was led by Ashby with her game-best 26 points on 10-for-15 shooting from the field in addition to five rebounds and four steals. Ashby now has 1,011 points for her career including 968 in her two plus campaigns with the Raiders. Rookie Elisha India Cross joined her in double figures with 11 points while junior Comfort Akinbo had a team-best 10 boards and three blocks.

R-N returns to action this Saturday when the team heads to NJAC foe TCNJ for a 1 p.m. tip-off.

The Raiders got off to a fast start against the visitors, jumping out to a 5-0 lead behind four points from Capurso. R-N maintained that advantage over the next few minutes and were up 9-4 but Kean rallied.  

The Cougars rattled off the next six points to take their first lead of the game and after a 12-2 surge were ahead 17-11 with a little over a minute to go in the opening quarter.

The Scarlet Raiders cut into that deficit with the last bucket of the first and opening points of the second quarter to make it 17-15. Still, Kean embarked on another 12-2 run to take its largest lead of the contest, 29-17.

This time, it was Newark's turn to rally before the break. Lay-ins by Cross and Faith Ashby started a 7-0 surge that was capped by a traditional three-point play from Ashby to make it 29-24. The Raiders headed into the locker rooms trailing 31-25.

Faith Ashby opened the second half with a put back to make it a four-point contest. However, the Cougars were soon back in front 34-27 and looking to pull away.

Rutgers-Newark would not let that happen as the hosts fought right back into the game. Six straight points had the deficit down to one and with 2:35 to go in the third quarter, another Faith Ashby lay-up had the Raiders in front for the first time since the opening period.

There would be three lead changes and two ties in a see-saw final minutes of the third as two big trifectas from Kean's Shannon McCoy would help her side take a slight 46-45 edge into the final 10 minutes.

The Scarlet Raiders carried their momentum into the fourth quarter, scoring the first four points of the period as part of a 7-2 spurt, capped by a huge 3-pointer from Cross that had the home squad in front 52-48 with 5:13 to play.

R-N's defense was the highlight for the next few minutes as a superb team effort led to a block at the end of one possession, a turnover, and then another block that led to a shot clock violation by the Cougars.

Kean was forced into a full timeout and slice its deficit in half after the break, making it 52-50 at the 2:28 mark.

Still, the Raiders caused another turnover on the visitors' next offensive trip and Faith Ashby drained a pair of clutch freebies to get the lead back to four with 1:49 on the clock.

Two possessions later, Faith Ashby came up with another huge play, causing a tie-up with the possession arrow in the home team's favor. After a Rutgers-Newark timeout, Cross made a clutch driving basket that extended the lead to 56-50 with 39 seconds remaining.

The Scarlet Raiders were able to salt the game away from the charity stripe as they went on to a 58-52 victory.