Ewing, NJ: The Ramapo College Women's basketball team earned a thrilling victory on the road at The College of New Jersey today in overtime, 77-75. The Roadrunners move to 16-8 overall, 10-7 in the NJAC while the Lions stand at 15-9 overall, 10-7 in the conference.
Both teams played evenly in the first quarter until a three-pointer from
Jackie Ventricelli would spark a 10-3 run for the Roadrunners which was capped off by three points from
Bridget Cahill, 19-14. TCNJ went on a 16-0 run over 3:32 of play, behind six points from Isabella Cafaro, taking a ten point lead, 31-21. Ventricelli tacked on four points for the Roadrunners in the final 1:40 of play in the half as TCNJ kept a 33-25 lead. The Lions would net four three-pointers in the third quarter as they pushed the lead. They tacked on a total of 27 points behind 11 points from Izzy Leazier. The Roadrunners netted 19 points in the quarter with
Jada Thompson contributing 11, but still trailing the Lions, 44-60. The Roadrunners dominated the fourth quarter, with a 21-2 run over eight and a half minutes of play, behind 10 points from Thompson and nine from Ventricelli. A made free-throw from Ventricelli with 1:32 left to play tied the game and the second shot put the Roadrunners on top, 63-62. Thompson would tack on two more, with 1:05 left to tick before Katie Fricker would net two more for TCNJ, 64-65. A three-point shot from Nina Branchizio with 18 seconds on the clock would tie the game at 67. Neither team would score in the final seconds, sending the game into overtime. The Lions would open overtime with a made free-throw from Myah Hourigan-Hutton before
Olivia Johnstone would sink two for the Roadrunners as TCNJ led, 69-68. Hourigan-Hutton would net three points over 1:06 of play, extending the Lion lead 71-69. Ventricelli would be sent to the line twice to tack on four more for the Ramapo before Hourigan-Hutton would net from the free throw line to tie the game once again, 73-73. With 1:08 remaining Ventricelli would hit a jumper for a 75-73 lead before Hourigan-Hutton tied the game once again on a layup with five seconds remaining.
Karly Wittenbauer would grab an offensive rebound for Ramapo and immediately put the shot back up as it swished in for the 77-75 lead with tenths of a second remaining. TCNJ would advance the ball on a timeout before Ventricelli grabbed her fifth steal of the game as Ramapo came away with the road win.
The Roadrunners were led by Ventricelli with a career high of 34 points while Thompson tied her career high of 22 points while she also grabbed 10 rebounds.
Shannon Burns pulled down four rebounds and
Salma Eddahiri dished out three assists. Ramapo shot 21-49 (42.9%) from the field, 3-12 (25%) from behind the three point line, and 32-42 (76.2%) from the free throw line.
Leazier led the Lions with 18 points and five assists, Fricker netted 13 points, Branchizio netted 12, and Sydney Blum pulled down four rebounds. TCNJ shot 37.7% (23-61) from the field, 33.3% (10-30) from beyond the three-point line, and 79.2% (19-24) from the free-throw line.
The Roadrunners will return to action Wednesday, February 15 at 5:30pm when they face William Paterson in a New Jersey Athletic Conference match-up at home. Ramapo will honor their senior,
Bridget Cahill, in a pregame ceremony.
