Mahwah, NJ: The Scarlet Raiders of Rutgers Newark nailed down seven three-point goals in route to a 57-50 victory over the Ramapo College women's basketball team in a New Jersey Athletic Conference match-up tonight at the Bradley Center. With the loss the Roadrunners fall to 8-9 overall and 3-7 in conference play, while Rutgers Newark jumps ahead to 10-7 and 7-3 in the NJAC.
Hannah Ashby led the Scarlet Raiders with 16 points hitting four three-point goals while Dorian Capurso collected 15 points in the team's seventh NJAC Conference win. Faith Ashby netted 12 and the team combined hitting 19-64 (30%) from the field. F. Ashby completed the double-double grabbing 13 rebounds and Capurso pulled down nine, while H. Ashby and F. Ashby dished out four assists each. Comfort Akinbo made three blocks in the game.
For Ramapo, Jenna Harsh led the Roadrunners with 18 points as she shot 8-17 from the field. She pulled down nine rebounds while Sarah Minchin, Samantha Rinaldi and Jessica Repasy each netted seven points. Minchin led with three assists and Harsh led with nine rebounds. The team shot a combined 20-56 (36%) on the night.
The Scarlet Raiders opened the game with back-to-back long shots from H. Ashby but Repasy would check into the game and take a long pass down the court to get Ramapo on the board at the 7:42 minute mark. With the Scarlet Raiders ahead, 9-5, the two teams played almost four minutes of scoreless basketball before Tia Solomon would sink two free throws for the Roadrunners. H. Ashby would nail a three followed by a two-point goal from Faith Ashby to put RU Newark up, 14-7 with just under two minutes to play. Kaity Potter netted two for Ramapo leaving RU Newark on top, 14-9 at the buzzer. In the second, Ramapo would close the gap to 14-16 with a basket from Repasy, but the Scarlet Raiders nailed back-to-back threes again to go ahead 22-14 with 6:02 on the clock. Capurso would put RU Newark ahead by ten, 24-14, and the Raiders would hold an eight-point, 28-20 lead at the half. Rutgers Newark combined hitting 10-36 (28%) from the field, including six three-point goals, while Ramapo hit 7-20 (35%).
To start the third period, Capurso gave the Scarlet Raiders a double-digit lead once again before Solomon collected two to put the spread back to eight, 22-30. Minchin collected a basket-off-the-steal and Harsh hit a long shot to close the gap, 27-30 with 5:37 on the clock. RU Newark would push to a 37-30 lead but the Roadrunners connected a 6-0 run, sparked and capped by Harsh, to come within one, 36-37 at the buzzer. The Scarlet Raiders opened the final period with an 8-1 run to jump ahead by seven (45-38) with 6:52 to play and with 2:16 to go, the Roadrunners would come within four, 43-47 with a basket from Rinaldi. Louise Ann Borja nailed down a two and Rinaldi sank the front end of a two-shot foul with 1:17 to play (44-49) but down the stretch it would be the Scarlet Raiders who held on to the match-up taking the win in Mahwah, 57-50.
Ramapo returns to action on Saturday, January 19th when they travel to Stockton University for a 1pm tip on the road.
