Mahwah, NJ: The Ramapo College women's basketball team posted a 62-56 non-conference win tonight over the Bloodhounds of John Jay College at the Bradley Center in Mahwah. With the victory the Roadrunners improve to 2-1 overall while John Jay falls to 1-2.
The Roadrunners opened to a 12-1 lead after sophomore Stephanie Cannizzaro (Pequannock Twp., NJ) sunk a three-pointer with 17:19 on the clock. Cannizzaro and Beth Weinmann (Pompton Plains, NJ) recorded ten of Ramapo's first points of the game. John Jay came within seven, 12-5 before junior transfer Theresa Paulmenn (Metuchen, NJ) hit a two point goal off a dish from Weinmann to jump ahead 14-5. The Bloodhounds went on a mini 5-0 run to close the gap 14-10 sparked by a three-pointer from Ganimete Ukperaj (Bellmore, NY) with just over 13 minutes to play. Ukperaj hit another three to close the gap 20-17 and Tiffany China (West Orange, NJ) sunk the front end of a free-throw to push Ramapo 21-17 over John Jay. John Jay's Dominique Grice (North Babylon, NY) went 4-4 from the free throw line over the next 00:25 to tie the game at 21. Camille Mammolite (Scotch Plains, NJ) hit a set of free throws and Ukperaj sunk a three for John Jay's first lead of the game, 24-23. The lead changed three more times in the final five minutes of the half before Ramapo got a break and pushed ahead by six, 37-31 with 00:22 to play. Grice hit a lay-up at the buzzer to head into the intermission just for points behind the Roadrunners.
Cannizzaro led the Roadrunners with nine first half points and Lauren Moschel (Fair Lawn, NJ) dished out a team high four assists. The team shot 12-29 (41%) from the field ahead of John Jay's 11-34 (32%). Ukperaj led the Bloodhounds with 12 points hitting 3-7, all three-pointers, and Grice led the team with four assists.
John Jay forced three Ramapo turnovers at the start of the second half and sunk two baskets to Ramapo's one free throw to come within one, 38-37 at 17:55. Parker Griffin (New York, NY) hit a jumper to take the first lead of the second half, 39-38, and the team controlled the next nine minutes before a three-pointer from Moschel at 7:07 gave Ramapo a 50-49 edge. The goal came off an assist from Cannizzaro who followed with a basket of her own off a missed jumper from John Jay to go ahead, 52-49. The Roadrunners out-scored John Jay, 10-7 in the final minutes of play to earn the 62-56 non-conference victory.
Cannizzaro finished on top of all Roadrunners with 14 points shooting 5-13 with three three-pointers while China sunk 13 points with two steals. Weinmann pulled down a team high ten boards and Moschel dished out five assists on the night. Griffin came out on top of all Bloodhounds with a double-double including 19 points and 11 rebounds. Ukperaj finished the night with 14 points. Ramapo shot 33% in the game hitting 20-61 while John Jay went 21-68 hitting 31% of their shots.
The Roadrunners return to action on Tuesday, November 27th when they host NY City Tech at 5:30 PM at the Bradley Center.
