Ashley Vazquez
Vazquez earns NJCU Athlete of the Week honors for the second straight week. She scored 41 points in two games last week, but none bigger than the two foul shots she draining with 5.8 seconds remaining on December 1 to break a 31-game New Jersey Athletic Conference losing streak and give NJCU its first home win over Rowan since 1990.
For the week, the Division II transfer averaged 20.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.0 steals per game, while shooting a scintillating 46.7 percent from three-point range (7-15) and a perfect 6-for-6 (1.000) from the free throw stripe, with an overall field goal percentage of .378 (14-37) in 67 minutes of action.
On November 28 in a 67-62 road loss to Rutgers-Newark she scored a career-high and game-best 22 points (7-18 FG), including 4-of-6 from three-point range and 4-of-4 from the line. She added three assists. Vazquez scored 13 of her 22 in the first half to stake the Knights to a 35-33 halftime lead—its first halftime lead over a conference opponent since a 22-19 margin against Rutgers University-Camden on January 29, 2011.
On December 1 in a 61-60 win over Rowan, Vazquez scored in double figures for the fourth consecutive game to lead NJCU and pace all scorers, finishing with 19 points (7-19 FG, 3-9 3FG), with her two winning free throws her only attempts of the day. She added three assists and two steals in 33 minutes. She drove the lane with time winding down and NJCU trailing by one, drew contact, and hit both foul shots with 5.8 seconds left.
Prior to the win over Rowan, NJCU’s last NJAC victory against any opponent was February 6, 2010 at Rutgers-Newark (62-57, 1 OT).NJCU also snapped a 21-game conference home court losing streak; its last home NJAC win was a 70-65 triumph over Ramapo College, on February 11, 2009.
Through December 3, Vazquez is averaging 15.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.2 steals per game, shooting .444 from three-point distance (16-36), .778 from the foul line (14-18) and .397 from the field (31-78). She has tallied 92 points in 182 minutes with 24 rebounds, 20 assists, seven steals and one block.
The conference leader in three-pointers made per game (2.7) through December 3 in the NJAC rankings, Vazquez also lists fourth in three-point percentage, sixth in scoring, eighth in assists and assist/turnover ratio (0.7), ninth in free throw percentage and minutes played (30.3) and 13th in field goal percentage.
