New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score BOX SCORE
GAME PROGRAM/NOTES

JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University played perhaps its best conference game of the season, and drew within striking distance of Ramapo College in the middle of the second half before the Roadrunners pulled away for a 55-42 win in a New Jersey Athletic Conference North Division game on Wednesday night at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center on “Coach Charlie Brown Court”

Ramapo won its third straight game and improves to 14-7 and 5-5 conference play while keeping pace for the final berth in the NJAC Tournament with Montclair State University at 5-5 in the league—one win behind second place Rutgers-Newark (6-3). NJCU (3-18, 0-10 NJAC) dropped its 13^th straight. Ramapo leads the all-time series, 33-26.
 
NJCU, trailing by as many as 13 points, cut the deficit to five with 14:56 to play and only trailed by seven, 45-38, with 7:12 to play before the Roadrunners scored six straight points to push the game into double figures. The final margin matched RCNJ's largest lead of the game, but didn't tell the story.
 
“Tonight we played a very hard fought game on both ends of the floor,” said first-year head coach Amy Mulligan. “We couldn't get a few shots to drop when we cut it to five, but the fight and hustle was there.”
 
In defeat, the Knights were led by sophomore forward ALNISA HERNAIZ (Irvington, NJ/Irvington) who finished with her third double-double this season, adding 12 points (6-11 FG) and 10 rebounds (eight defensive).
 
Junior guard GABRIELLE RIVERA (Teaneck, NJ/Saint Joseph of the Palisades) had nine points and three assists while junior forward DELIA CHERNEZ (Union City, NJ/Union City) supplied eight rebounds (seven defensive), five points and three assists. Junior forward MAXINE KAMINSKI (Kearny, NJ/Kearny) had seven rebounds and six points.
 
Ramapo was led by freshman forward Alex Milne (Howell, NJ/Howell), who finished with a team-high 12 points (5-7 FG) and junior guard Faith Flannery (Keansburg, NJ/Keansburg) compiled 11 points (5-10 FG), six rebounds and three steals in 26 reserve minutes.
 
Freshman guard Jackie Jerkovich (Secaucus, NJ/Academy of the Holy Angels) finished with seven points and dished out four assists while sophomore forward Micaela Moore (Lindenwold, NJ/Lindenwold) added nine points, five rebounds and three steals. Junior guard Alexa Ryan (Hazlet, NJ/Raritan) had eight points.              


Ramapo never trailed and jumped out to an early 20-8 lead in the first half despite shooting just 10-for-30 (.333) in the period. The Roadrunners forced NJCU to commit 13 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes, scoring nine points off giveaways as they built a 25-14 halftime lead. NJCU shot 6-of-23 (.261) in the first period.
 
NJCU responded well in the second half to Ramapo, as they played more aggressively on both ends of the court. Down 31-18, a jumper by Chernez at the 17:06 mark ignited an 8-0 NJCU run, as back-to-back back-door passes led to uncontested layups by Hernaiz off assists from Chernez and Rivera, cutting the deficit to 31-24 with 15:51 to play. Rivera followed that play with hard drive to the basket which cut Ramapo's lead to five with 14:56 left to play.
 
Just as the Gothic Knights were starting to gain momentum, Flannery made a layup at the 13:39 mark to stop the NJCU run.
 
After Flannery's basket, NJCU kept the deficit in single digits until the 3:42 mark when Milne made a crucial uncontested basket off an inbounds pass  from Ryan that gave Ramapo a 48-38 lead, helping the Roadrunners ensure the victory.

NJCU will attempt to shake off the loss when they host Berkeley College (NY) in a non-conference game on Saturday, February, 4 at 2 p.m. Ramapo will host #8/9 William Paterson University in an NJAC matchup that day at 1 p.m.