New Jersey City University Athletics

BOX SCORE

NEW YORK, NY (www.NJCUGothicKnights.com)...Sophomore forward EBONY CUNNINGHAM (East Orange, NJ/East Orange Campus) delivered a career-high 27 points and added 12 rebounds for her seventh double-double and freshman forward LINDIA FISCHER (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne) seized a career and team-season high 15 rebounds but New York University defeated New Jersey City University, 87-65, in a non-conference women's basketball game on Wednesday night at the Jerome S. Coles Sports Center in Manhattan. There were 12 leads changes in the game.

 

NJCU (0-7), which had made just 12 three-pointers in the first five games of the year, has now made 14 in the last two outings, as the Gothic Knights sank eight in the game while notching a season scoring high. NYU improves to 5-3 and leads the all-time series, 8-2. The schools were meeting for the fourth consecutive year.

 

NJCU had entered the game averaging 26.5 turnovers a game while forcing its opponents into 29.2 per contest. The Knights did a good job of protecting the ball, allowing only 13 giveaways while using their press to force the Violets into 25 miscues. NJCU scored 19 points off of NYU's turnovers.

 

Cunningham registered her fourth career 20-point game, and easily surpassed her previous scoring high of 21 (February 21, 2009 vs. Ramapo College), as she shot 10-of-28 and 5-of-11 from three-point range, while adding 12 rebounds (eight offensive). She played a full 40 minutes for the second time in her career.

 

Fischer hauled in 15 rebounds—13 defensive—in only 21 minutes of action before fouling out, and added six points (3-6 FG). Junior guard MIESHA COOKE (Paterson, NJ/Sports Business Academy) matched her career high with 17 points (6-16 FG, 2-6 3FG), adding three assists and three steals in a full 40 minutes. Freshman guard ASHLEY FREEMAN (Paterson, NJ/Passaic Tech) totaled 11 points (4-19 FG), five rebounds, four assists and two steals while also playing a full 40 minutes.

 

NJCU, which dressed only eight players, was without the services of its starting point guard and its top center. Freshman point guard LATIFAH JOHNSON (Newark, NJ/University) had notched a career-high 22 points in a loss to Richard Stockton on December 5 but was unavailable for the NYU game, and freshman center KIARA DENSON (Garfield, NJ/Garfield) was injured in the Stockton contest.

 

NYU took advantage of the absence of several key players and owned a 26-2 edge in bench points to break open a game that was within reach for the Knights at the half, trailing 44-36.

 

Freshman 6-foot-1 center Makenzie Hirz (Santa Ana, CA) came off the bench to record career highs of 18 points (7-10 FG) and 11 rebounds (nine defensive) in 19 minutes. NYU had a 44-26 margin in points in the paint.

 

Junior 6-foot-1 center Chrissy Kilmurray (Wall, NJ) also had a double-double of 11 points (5-7 FG), 10 rebounds (eight defensive) and three blocks to help NYU to a 64-44 edge in rebounding. Also for the hosts, senior forward Carmen Grace (Fallston, MD) had 17 points (6-10 FG) and eight rebounds and junior guard Chelsea Blake (Hamden, CT) finished with 13 points (5-9 FG, 2-3 3FG), seven rebounds (six defensive), six assists and five steals. Junior guard Emily Foshag (Los Angeles, CA) had 14 points (5-10 FG), making 4-of-6 from three-point distance, with four assists.

 

Freeman had five points for NJCU as the Knights took an early 7-2 edge and the clubs would trade the lead throughout most of the first half. Cunningham made a layup for a 14-10 lead with 12:13 left in the first half. NYU gained three six-point leads and had a 31-25 cushion with 5:09 remaining before Cooke and Cunningham each drilled three-pointers in a span of 59 seconds to force a 31-31 tie with 4:00 on the board. After NYU took a 33-31 lead, Cunningham sank yet another triple with 3:13 left in the period for a 34-33 lead.

 

But that would be NJCU's last lead of the night. NYU went on an 11-0 run to claim a 44-34 lead, with Foshag scoring five points during the spurt. The Violets led 44-36 at the half.

 

NJCU stayed within striking distance for much of the second half. Cunningham hit another three with 5:10 remaining for a 12-point deficit (73-61) before running out of steam. A fresher NYU squad scored 14 of the game's final 18 points to account for the final margin.

 

NYU shot 46.5 percent overall (33-71) and made 9-of-21 three-pointers for a 42.9 percent rate. NJCU shot 29.1 percent (25-86) and 7-of-15 from the line (.467).

 

NJCU is back in action on Saturday, December 12 at 2 p.m. with a road non-conference game against York College (NY) in Jamaica, Queens.