NCAA DIII Women's Basketball Selection Show

NJAC Tournament Central

NEWARK, N.J. (February 23, 2019) – In front of a raucous and filled-to-capacity crowd, the fourth-seeded Rutgers University-Newark women's basketball team completed an incredible run to its first-ever New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Championship, earning the conference's automatic bid to the Division III NCAA Tournament, with a thrilling 54-47 overtime victory against sixth-seeded Kean University in The Golden Dome.

The Scarlet Raiders improve to 16-12 and will continue their postseason run after hearing where they land in the bracket on the NCAA DIII Women's Basketball Selection at 2:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.

"I am so proud of this group's resilience and fight." said head coach Ashley Cieplicki, "Not once this year did we count ourselves out. Right now we're just happy to get to practice on Monday!"

The Cougars (14-14) were just the second-ever sixth-seed to make an NJAC Tournament Championship game and fought valiantly after an impressive run of their own past the no. 2 and no. 3 seeds to reach this contest.

Senior Faith Ashby, this season's NJAC Player of the Year, had a tremendous night. R-N's MVP all winter, Ashby poured in a game-high 27 points and flirted with a triple-double as she grabbed eight boards and totaled eight steals. She, along with junior Hannah Ashby, played all 45 minutes and was incredible in locking down first team All-NJAC rookie Shannon McCoy, stifling the dangerous guard.

Junior Louise Ann Borja also had a fantastic night, coming off the bench to play 40 minutes full of energy, tenacity, and big plays on both ends of the floor. She scored 11 points to go with three rebounds and a steal as well as numerous plays that didn't make it onto the box score.

Junior Comfort Akinbo had an incredible night on the glass, pulling down a game-high 13 rebounds with six of those coming on the offensive end. Freshman Dorian Capurso delivered an important all-around night despite foul trouble with eight rebounds, four points, two assists, and a steal.

As has been the case all season, the other star of the night was the Raiders excellent defense. The hosts limited a Kean team that averaged 66.0 points per game to just 47 points on 26.2% shooting from the field and only 16.7% (4-for-24) from beyond the arc.

The game turned in Rutgers-Newark's favor early in the third quarter. Trailing 29-20, the home team went on a pivotal 18-4 run fueled by Faith Ashby, Borja, and excellent team defense.

Faith Ashby began the rally with a lay-in at the 7:33 mark before quickly producing a steal and fast break basket to cut the deficit to five with 7:01 to play in the period. Next it was Borja who finished through contact after a pinpoint pass from Capurso before knocking down her free throw to complete the and-one and send the home fans into a frenzy.

While the Cougars briefly responded with a 3-pointer by Casey Filiault, that would not stop the Raiders momentum as Borja answered right back with a trifecta of her own to slice the visitors' lead down to two.

A Filiault freebie made it a three-point contest with 4:54 on the clock but a driving Hannah Ashby lay-up followed by yet another steal and bucket that turned into a tradition three-point play from Faith Ashby suddenly had the hosts in front, 35-33.

A Hannah Ashby free throw and Faith Ashby jumper would add to that slight edge and send the Scarlet Raiders into the fourth leading 38-33.

The fourth quarter really demonstrated the toughness and resilience that both teams have showed throughout their improbable runs to this championship matchup. After a Capurso driving score pushed R-N's advantage to 44-38 with 6:19 to play, Kean came roaring back. The visitors scored the next six points to even the contest at 44-44 with 3:36 remaining.

Following three empty offensive possessions, it was Faith Ashby who put the Raiders up once again. The veteran guard worked her way into the paint from the left wing, stopped on a dime, and floated a shot in off the back of the rim with a feathery touch to make it 46-44 at the 2:05 mark.

Still, the visitors had an answer when Danielle Oakley made a wonderful baseline drive with the shot clock winding down and flipped a reverse lay-up miraculously up and in with just over 40 seconds left.

After absolutely crucial defensive stops by both squads the championship headed to overtime.

In the extra period it was all Rutgers-Newark as the team played stifling defense and got exactly the offense they needed to secure the program's first-ever NJAC Title and NCAA Tournament berth. Borja started things off with yet another and-one play, making it 49-46 on her squad's first offensive possession.

Following Payce Lange going 1-for-2 at the charity stripe to make it a two-point game, Hannah Ashby delivered a huge jumper in the paint. The junior guard curled beautifully off a screen and in one fluid motion caught the pass from her sister Faith Ashby and buried a mid-range shot to extend the lead to four.

Akinbo essentially sealed the win by hitting one-of-two at the line with 49 seconds to go before Faith Ashby officially iced the contest by draining a pair of freebies while fans serenaded her with chants of "MVP".    

The Cougars started the first quarter strong, building an early 6-0 advantage three and a half minutes into the game. Faith Ashby got the home side on the board with a pair of free throws at the 5:47 mark but just 11 seconds later McCoy drilled a trifecta to put Rutgers-Newark in a 9-2 hole.

Despite buckets from Faith Ashby and Akinbo the hosts still found themselves down seven before Ashby hit a tough lay-up to cut the deficit to 13-8 in the final seconds of the period.

Kean opened the second the same way as the first with a 7-2 spurt that had the visitors leading 20-10 with 5:51 to go before the half. Still, a committee of Raiders including Akinbo, Borja, freshman Elisha India Cross, and Faith Ashby helped bring the deficit to a more manageable 24-18 by the break with an Ashby lay-in at 1:05 closing the scoring for the stanza.