SCRANTON, Pa. — For the first time in program history, the New Jersey City University women's basketball program competed in the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship as the Gothic Knights took on #9/11-ranked University of Scranton in the First Round tonight, Friday, March 4. NJCU saw a primetime performance from standout sophomore guard
Damaris Rodriguez (Secaucus, N.J./Secaucus) — game-highs in points (24) and assists (6) — but the squad unfortunately fell to the Lady Royals, 69-47.
Jersey City (13-10) actually started off the night strong and held a Top-10 Scranton (26-2) squad to just nine points in the first quarter, taking a 12-9 lead into the second. Rodriguez scored a pair of buckets over those first 10 minutes to lead all scorers. However, the Lady Royals shot 56.3 percent from the floor in the second quarter and outscored NJCU by nine at 23-14 to take a six-point, 32-26 lead into the half. Rodriguez continued to fire for the Gothic Knights and after 20 minutes play had a game-high-tying 12 points on 50.0 percent shooting (5-of-10).
Unfortunately Scranton used the third quarter to widen its lead with the 18-8 advantage and jumped out to a 50-34 lead heading into the fourth quarter. The Lady Royals continued to control the pace of play in the fourth and edged out NJCU, 69-47, by the time the final buzzer sounded.
Season of History
In a season filled with ups and downs, the Gothic Knights can do nothing but raise their heads up high. After dealing with several conference forfeits and other speed bumps in their way, the NJCU women dusted themselves off and earned the #6-seed in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Tournament. En route to clinching their first-ever trip to NCAAs, the Green and Gold took down #3-seeded Montclair State University via a heart-stopping buzzer-beating comeback, then went down to South Jersey and topped #2-seeded Rowan University in the semifinals. The Gothic Knights then cemented back-to-back NJAC titles after a win on their home court over #8-seed The College of New Jersey to punch their ticket to the Tournament.
Individually, Rodriguez was selected to the NJAC First Team, while junior
Laney Fox (Parkland, Fla./Cardinal Gibbons) earned Second Team honors. The pair combined for five NJAC Player of the Week nods, while freshman
Liyah Allen (Hillside, N.J./Hillside) collected one NJAC Rookie of the Week accolade. Fox and Rodriguez also collected five weekly honors from the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association (MBWA). Jersey City now awaits the annual honors from D3hoops.com and the MBWA.
Up Next
The Gothic Knights, having won back-to-back, now look to defend their NJAC crown and become the first three-peat champions since Montclair State won six in a row from 2013-18. Should the roster remain unchanged from this season to next, NJCU is expected to return the entire squad, as all players retain NCAA eligibility. Head coach
Pat Devaney, Sr., looks to guide his team to what will hopefully be a long run of success in Jersey City for the foreseeable future.
