WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (December 29, 2018) – The Rutgers University-Newark women's basketball team pulled off a hard fought, come-from-behind victory over host Lycoming University in the opener of the Hoops for Hounds Tournament this evening, 72-69. The Scarlet Raiders improve to 7-5 while the Warriors fall to 8-4.

Rutgers-Newark was led by senior Faith Ashby who poured in a game-high 25 points on 8-for-15 shooting from the field including a perfect 2-of-2 from downtown and a near-perfect 7-for-8 from the charity stripe. The veteran also added six rebounds, three steals, and two assists. Junior Hannah Ashby joined her in double-figures with 16 points as she nailed three 3-pointers. Freshman Elisha India Cross rounded out the double-digit scorers with 16 more points. Classmate Dorian Capurso led the squad with 12 boards while chipping in six points, three steals, and two dimes.

The Raiders advance to the championship game of the Hoops for Hounds tourney tomorrow at 2 p.m. against Rosemont College who defeated Hunter College 69-59 in their contest.

R-N clipped Lycoming with a wild fourth quarter that saw the game come down to the final minute of play. The last 10 minutes featured five lead changes and three ties as the Scarlet Raiders entered the period leading 60-56.

The Warriors knotted the contest at 60-60 just over two minutes into the quarter and reclaimed the lead at the 6:52 mark.

The hosts would widen their margin slightly to 64-61 but a Hannah Ashby lay-in and huge and-one bucket from Cross sent Newark back in front by two.
The momentum continued to swing back-and-forth as Lycoming flipped the lead yet again by scoring the next four points.

A clutch 3-pointer from Faith Ashby on an assist by Hannah Ashby sent R-N in front by the slimmest of leads while a Warriors freebie had the game all tied up at 69-69 with just 1:45 to play.

That would prove to be the final deadlock of the contest as Faith Ashby hit 3-of-4 from the line on the next two possessions to have her side ahead 72-69 with 17 ticks on the clock.

With one last chance to tie the game, Lycoming could not convert as a stout R-N defense forced an airball as time ran out on the home team and the Raiders held on for the win.

In the first quarter there were two lead changes and one tie early on. The Warriors jumped out to a 5-2 lead before Faith Ashby converted a traditional three-point play to even the score at the 6:54 mark.

From there, Lycoming attempted to take control as the hosts went on an 11-1 surge to take a commanding 16-6 lead with 3:18 to go in the period.

Still, the Raiders fought back and halved their deficit with a 7-2 spurt that included five points from Faith Ashby to make it 18-13.

The Warriors opened the second quarter on a tear, scoring the first 10 points of the period to open a wide 15-point margin.

Hannah Ashby stopped the bleeding with a trifecta with 7:05 to play before the half as R-N began a rally to claw back into the contest.

Trailing 32-21 at the 4:44 mark, the Scarlet Raiders embarked on a 13-2 run to pull within two points. Hannah Ashby started the surge by draining a shot from downtown to cut the deficit to eight. Three other teammates would get in on the scoring during that stretch with a free throw by junior Louise Ann Borja making it 34-32 with 1:31 to go in the quarter.

Lycoming responded with a trey and went into the locker rooms leading 37-33.

Hannah Ashby started the second half off where she left off in the first, knocking down a 3-pointer to pull the visitors within one point just nine seconds into the third period.

The Warriors would not concede their edge, however, and maintained a 54-50 advantage with 3:32 to play in the quarter.

The Scarlet Raiders would finally fight back to their first lead since the opening minutes. Cross drilled a trifecta to spark a 10-2 surge that would leave the visitors in front by a 60-56 score headed into the fourth. Cross contributed two 3-pointers and a lay-up during that run while a Faith Ashby jumper accounted for the other two points.