NJAC Tournament Central

Rutgers-Newark Stats I Kean Stats

R-N vs R-C I R-N at TCNJ

Live Stats I Live Video

NEWARK, N.J. (February 22, 2019) – Thanks to two stunning upsets last night, the fourth-seeded Rutgers University-Newark women's basketball team will be hosting the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Championship tomorrow night at 7 p.m. against sixth-seeded Kean University in The Golden Dome.

Tickets for the game are $5 for general admission and $2 for students, children and seniors. You can also catch the game on live video and/or live stats.

The Scarlet Raiders enter the contest at 15-12 after defeating Rutgers-Camden in the first round last Saturday and knocking off top-seeded TCNJ on the road last night. R-N is seeking its first-ever NJAC Championship following appearances in the title game in 2010-11 at William Paterson and in 2016-17 at Montclair State.

The Cougars meanwhile, are 13-time NJAC Champions including a stretch of nine in a row between 1982 and 1991 but have not won since 2009-10. Kean enters this game as only the second no. 6 to make the championship game (Rutgers-Newark was the other in 2016-17) following upsets over no. 3 Montclair State and no. 2 Rowan.

PREVIOUS MATCHUPS
The Scarlet Raiders swept the regular season series with wins on November 28 and January 23. R-N overcame a six-point halftime deficit on a night when senior Faith Ashby eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for her career. The hosts held off a late Kean run to come up with a 58-52 victory despite poor shooting from beyond the arc (12.5%, 1-for-8) and at the free throw line (13-for-30, 43.3%).

In the second matchup, the Raiders took it to the Cougars in the first three quarters as they built an insurmountable 18-point lead en route to a wire-to-wire 52-41 victory. Rutgers-Newark again struggled from downtown (3-for-12, 25.0%) but had a balanced offensive attack and played stellar defense, limiting Kean to just 30.9% from the field and 9.1% (2-of-22) from 3-point range.

DEFENSE VS OFFENSE
This will be a clash of strengths as the Raiders come into this contest with the top 3-point defense, second-best scoring defense, and fourth-best field goal percentage defense.

On the other side, the Cougars enter the game with the third-best scoring offense, second-best passing offense with 14.0 assists per game, and fourth-best offensive rebounding unit in the NJAC.

R-N tends to play at a slower pace and suffocate opponents with its incredibly active team defense. Still, the hosts will have to limit Kean on the offensive glass and get into the passing lanes often to slow down a potent offense.

RUTGERS-NEWARK PLAYERS TO WATCH
Not to belabor the point but the Scarlet Raiders enter this matchup with a deadly sister duo in newly-crowned NJAC Player of the Year Faith Ashby and All-NJAC Honorable Mention junior Hannah Ashby. Faith comes into Saturday averaging 17.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 3.4 steals per game while Hannah is averaging 11.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.2 steals per game in addition to her 51 3-pointers which are good for fourth in the conference.

Also keep an eye on excellent rookie forward Dorian Capurso who is averaging 8.1 points and 9.2 rebounds (2.6 offensive) per game and just had a big double-double against TCNJ with 12 points and 10 boards.  

KEAN
The Cougars come into this matchup winners of six of their last eight games and are led by rookie phenom and first team All-NJAC guard Shannon McCoy. McCoy is averaging 16.7 points and 3.9 rebounds per game while All-NJAC Honorable Mention Payce Lange joins her in double-figures with 14.4 points per game. Danielle Oakley is the team's top passer with 3.9 assists per game in addition to 7.7 points and 4.1 rebounds per contest.