EWING, N.J. – The College of New Jersey women's basketball team was defeated by Rutgers-Newark in the New Jersey Athletic Conference semifinals on Thursday evening by a final score of 52-45. The Lions record fell to 17-9 on the campaign, while the Scarlet-Raiders improved to 15-12 on the year.
In the opening quarter, the Scarlet Raiders jumped out to a 9-5 lead with 3:09 to go.
Cailey Gibson net a couple of free throws to trim the deficit to two.
Nicole Shatsky scored on a fast break lay-up on the ensuing possession. With 24 seconds to play,
Sam Famulare grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled. She hit two free throws to tie the game 11-11 after one. The Scarlet Raiders controlled the second quarter, and took a 27-18 lead into the locker room.
Rutgers-Newark took a 15 point lead at the end of the third quarter, when Faith Ashby hit a three pointer right before the clock expired. The Lions did not give up, and got back into the game in the final quarter. Shatsky drained a three to pull TCNJ within 12 with eight minutes remaining.
The Lions consistently attacked the paint in the final quarter. Lay-ups from
Shannon Devitt,
Jen Byrne, and Shatsky trimmed the Scarlet Raider lead to 44-36 with just under five minutes to play. Byrne net a couple of buckets to make it 48-40, then hit a three-pointer with 1:02 to go to pull the Lions within six. She continued to score the basketball as she hit a jumper to make it 49-45 with 27 seconds to go. That was as close as the Scarlet Raiders would allow the Lions to get, as they hit the free throws to hang onto the win.
Byrne led the Lions with 22 points on 9-of-20 shooting from the floor, and added five rebounds. She was also active on the defensive end, as she grabbed three steals and blocked two shots.
Devitt grabbed 11 rebounds, and in doing so broke the TCNJ single-season rebounding record. The previous mark was 320 set by Hillary Klimowicz in the 2007-08 season. Devitt reached 329 rebounds on the season with the 11 boards tonight. She also tallied eight points and four steals on the evening.
Rutgers-Newark advances to the NJAC finals, where it will play Kean University on February 23.
