NORTON, Mass. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University's furious fourth-quarter rally fell short as the Gothic Knights dropped a 56-48 non-conference matchup to Wheaton College (Mass.) on January 20 at Emerson Gymnasium.
 
NJCU trailed 42-25 after three quarters but made a game of it in the fourth, outscoring the Lyons, 23-14. NJCU had its three-game winning streak snapped, falling to 6-9. Wheaton is 7-8.
 
NJCU lost despite a career-high 25 points from senior shooting guard Hannah Johnson (Jersey City, NJ/Saint Dominic Academy) (8-24 FG, 3-9 3FG) with six rebounds before fouling out. Junior wing Dayjah Anderson (East Orange, NJ/Newark Tech) finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and five steals and New Jersey Athletic Conference Rookie of the Week Sarah Edmond (Bloomfield, NJ/Bloomfield) grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.
 
Junior forward Mikayla Pucci (Hopkinton, Mass.) produced a double-double for the Lyons with 14 points (8-11 FT) and 10 rebounds. Sophomore forward Sadie Shore (Portsmouth, N.H.) led Wheaton with 15 points, shooting 5-of-6.
 
NJCU had a 26-11 margin off 25 Wheaton turnovers but largely could not translate the giveaways on the scoreboard. NJCU shot just 20.0 percent from the field (14-70 FG) and 3-of-17 from three-point range (.176). The Knights struggled in the second quarter, making just one field goal (1-19, 5.3 percent). NJCU also had a huge offensive rebounding advantage (27-8) but had just a 19-6 edge in second-chance scoring.
 
Wheaton shot 62.5 percent in the opening quarter (5-8 FG) to grab a 15-11 after 10 minutes, led 26-17 at halftime, and expanded the cushion to 17 after three periods. The Lyons' largest lead was 18 (45-27) with 8:13 remaining. The Knights drew within five points (50-45) on a pair of foul shots by Johnson with 45 seconds left at the end of an 8-0 run but couldn't cut the deficit any further.
 
NOTABLES:

• Series: Wheaton (Mass.) leads, 3-0; last meeting was November 18, 2016.
• Hannah Johnson (Jersey City, NJ/Saint Dominic Academy) previously scored 23 at Saint Elizabeth in the first game of the season on November 13, 2019 and 23 again in NJCU's last game on January 18 against Rutgers-Camden. Johnson scored in double figures for the seventh time this season.
• Dajyah Anderson scored in double figures for the seventh time this year.
• Sarah Edmond (Bloomfield, NJ/Bloomfield) had her third career double-digit rebounding effort.

 
UP NEXT:

• NJCU, currently sixth in the NJAC, heads to Union, N.J. on Wednesday, January 22 at 6 p.m. to take on Kean University in NJAC action at Harwood Arena. The Cougars, currently tied for second place in the conference (11-5, 7-2 NJAC), rallied in the final minute to edge NJCU in the first conference meeting of the season on November 26 in Jersey City, by a 61-57 outcome.

 
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