Mahwah, NJ: The Ramapo College women's basketball team recorded their first loss of the 2007 season today at the Bradley Center with a 55-39 loss to the Lightning of Lehman College. With the win, Lehman improves to 2-0 overall while Ramapo falls to 1-1.
The Roadrunners jumped out to a 4-2 edge before spreading their lead to four when junior Tiffany China (West Orange, NJ) hit a pair of free throws with 14:48 left in the first half. Ramapo pushed ahead 10-4 before Lehman went on a 5-0 run to close the gap to 10-9. Maria Loor (Bronx, NY) hit a jumper to close out the run at 10:07. Lehman took their first lead of the game with 5:30 on the clock when Loor hit another jumper to go ahead 13-12. Lataye Hillman (Ecuador) hit a three-pointer and sunk the and-one after being fouled with 1:57 left in the half for the Lightning to jump ahead 23-18. Lehman headed into the intermission ten points, 28-18 ahead of Ramapo after Hillman hit a three-pointer with just over one minute to play. Beth Weinmann (Pompton Plains, NJ) led the Roadrunners with six points and 13 rebounds while Malika Gilliam (Roselle, NJ) dished out two assists. Loor led Lehman with eight points and six boards and Tiara Carroll (Bronx, NY) grabbed three steals. Lehman held Ramapo to five field goals while forcing 18 Roadrunner turnovers in the half.
In the final 20 minutes of play, Ramapo shot 9-29 (31%) and Lehman went 10-28 (36%) taking control of the half outscoring Ramapo, 37-21. Lehman's biggest lead came at the final buzzer, 16. Loor finished the day with 11 points and 11 rebounds while Monique Sampson (Bronx, NY) sunk eight points and pulled down a team high 12 rebounds. Loor dished out four assists in the win. Weinmann pulled down a team leading 15 rebounds and China and Lauren Moschel (Fair Lawn, NJ) each netted ten points on the day.
In the consolation match-up featuring the Wildcats of Randolph College and the Gators of Russell Sage, the Wildcats came out on top, 66-49 to improve to 1-1 on the year. Russell Sage opens the 2007 season at 0-2.
Randolph College took a four point, 30-26 half time lead behind 12 points from Katie Rechnitzer (Burke, VA) who shot 4-6 from the field. Lindsay Cross (Asheboro, NC) pulled down eight boards and Sam Schaffstall (Fairfax, VA) dished out a team high three assists. Russell Sage's Sarah Otto (Albany, NY) led the Gators with eight first half points. The Gators shot 36% (10-28) in the first 20 minutes while Randolph went 11-28 (39%).
In the final half of play, Rechnitzer added 14 points leading the Wilcats while Michelle Brockman (Portsmouth, VA) netted eight points and pulled down eight boards. Rechnitzer finished the day with a team leading 26 points and Cross wrapped up the win with a double-double including 11 points and 13 rebounds. The team went 26-59 (44%) in the game ahead of Russell Sage's 19-56 (34%). Ashli Fragomeni (Wynantskill, NY) finished the day with 13 points and Otto added 11.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Russell Sage – Ashli Fragomeni
Randolph –Katie Rechnitzer
Ramapo – Beth Weinmann
Ramapo – Lauren Moschel
Lehman – Tiara Carroll
Lehman – MVP – Maria Loor
