Junior guard Ashley Vazquez (Jersey City, NJ/Marist) of the women’s basketball team is the New Jersey City University Athlete of the Week for December 23, 2013. The honor is for the period of December 16-22, 2013. She takes home the honor for the third time this season and sixth time in two seasons as a Gothic Knight.
ASHLEY VAZQUEZ
Vazquez, a 5-foot-2 junior majoring in Political Science with a minor in Criminal Justice, led NJCU in a pair of non-conference games, as the co-captain averaged 13.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.5 steals, 3.5 assists and 0.5 blocks per game in an all-around effort. She shot .444 (12-27) from the field and tallied 26 points, 10 boards, nine steals and seven assists.
She scored in double figures for the 27th and 28th times in her 35 games as a Gothic Knight. She has reached double digits in all 10 games this season and 11 consecutive games overall. She has 455 career points.
On December 21, Vazquez was an important part of a defense that held an opponent to fewer than 60 points for the sixth time this year and gave NJCU its third double digit victory among its first four wins this season with a 65-54 triumph against Centenary College (NJ). She had a sensational all-around game, finishing with 14 points, six assists, six steals and six rebounds. Vazquez shot 7-of-16 overall and a blazing 7-of-8 from two-point territory in 37 minutes of action. She had eight first half points—including six in a row during a key stretch of the opening period that put NJCU in front for good.
After Centenary regained a two-point lead late in the first half, Vazquez took over—scoring six consecutive points, including back-to-back steals and full-court fast break layups that tied the game (3:21) and gave NJCU its first lead (3:01) at 26-24. Her jumper off an offensive rebound at 2:28 pushed the lead to four and her nifty pass under the basket led to a bucket at the buzzer that gave NJCU a five-point, 30-25 advantage at the half. She had several key plays in the second half to cement the win and she gave NJCU its largest lead came with 1:47 left on another steal and coast-to-coast play that gave the hosts a 16-point, 63-47 differential.
In a 61-50 loss to University of Redlands on December 18 in the first-ever home game in any sport against a team from California, Vazquez scored 12 on 5-of-11 shooting including 2-for-2 from three-point distance. She added three steals in a shade under 40 minutes.
For the year she is averaging 14.2 points (142), 5.2 rebounds (16-36-52), 2.9 assists (29), 2.3 steals (26) in 36.3 minutes per game (363). She is shooting .398 from the field (53-133), .283 from three-point distance (15-53) and .636 from the foul line (21-33).
As of December 23 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference statistical rankings, she is second in minutes played, eighth in three-pointers made per game (1.5), ninth in scoring and steals, 10th in three-point percentage, and 12th in assists.
Vazquez previously was named Athlete of the Week this season on November 25 and December 9. As a sophomore she collected the honor on November 26 and December 3, 2012 and January 28, 2013.
