Senior Night Highlights

NEWARK, N.J. (February 14, 2018) – On Senior Night visiting The College of New Jersey pulled away late from the Rutgers University-Newark women's basketball team in The Golden Dome for both teams' final New Jersey Athletic Conference regular season matchup. The Scarlet Raiders fell 57-41 and finish the campaign 7-28 (2-16 NJAC) while the Lions improve to 20-5 (15-3 NJAC).

Before the game, R-N's seniors Nikki Sammartino and Nicole Skelly were honored for their careers with the Raiders.

Junior Faith Ashby led the way for Newark with a strong all-around effort scoring a team-best 20 points while pulling down seven rebounds and adding two assists, two blocks, and a steal. Skelly chipped in with seven points and squad-highs of eight boards and three assists. Freshman Ania Harrell contributed six points, three caroms, and two steals.

The visitors took control in the first quarter with a dominating performance. The Lions scored the first five points of the game and built that early edge into a 9-2 advantage. Faith Ashby briefly cut into Newark's deficit but TCNJ would pull away a little more and lead 15-6 at the end of the period.

The Scarlet Raiders completely flipped the script in the second. Trailing 19-10 with 8:32 to play before halftime, the home side began their rally with a jumper by sophomore Comfort Akinbo. Faith Ashby followed with a mid-range shot before senior Nicole Skelly knocked down one of her own. Sophomore Hannah Ashby capped the 8-0 spurt with a fastbreak lay-in assisted by Faith Ashby.

The Lions eked out a slight four-point gap a couple possessions later but a driving lay-up from Faith Ashby and a jumper by Skelly resulted in the game's first tie at 24-24. Yet another driving score by Faith Ashby had the Raiders down just 28-26 at the break.

Faith Ashby opened the second half much like she ended the first, scoring the third quarter's firs bucket to even the game at 28-28. Still, the Lions would attempt to pull away and built a seven-point edge with 3:43 to go in the period. The Scarlet Raiders began to fight back with a pair of Harrell freebies drawing them within five. Next Faith Ashby netted a driving basket before scoring again off a Skelly feed to pull the home team back within one point as they went into the final period trailing just 39-38.

Unfortunately, the last 10 minutes would be all TCNJ as the visitors outscored R-N 16-3 in the quarter en route to the 57-41 victory.