JERSEY CITY, N.J. — The New Jersey City University women's basketball team saw its seven-game winning streak come to an end on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 28, at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (JMAC). The Gothic Knights dropped a battle for first place in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) regular-season standings as they fell to Kean University, 65-49.
NJCU (9-9, 9-4 NJAC) started off the day against the Cougars (12-8, 10-3 NJAC) with some tough offensive output and were held to just 3-of-20 from the floor, including 0-of-7 from long range. Kean took a 13-7 lead after the first quarter of play. The second quarter did see the Gothic Knights inch a bit closer as they outscored the Cougars 15-13 thanks to a bounce-back 10 points from junior guard
Damaris Rodriguez (Secaucus, N.J./Secaucus). After 20 minutes of play, Jersey City trailed Kean by four, 26-22.
The second half saw the Cougars continue to control the pace of play and the visitors took a 23-19 advantage in the third. Senior forward
Jasmine Reese (Jersey City, N.J./Hudson Catholic) did her best to combat the Kean offensive attack as she finished 4-of-5 in the quarter and was 2-of-3 from the line to notch with 10 of her season-high 13 points on the day. The deficit could have been worse for NJCU at the end of three, however Rodriguez manage to drain a fadeaway three in the corner at the buzzer to bring the score back to single digits at 49-41 with 10 minutes left to play.
The fourth quarter saw Rodirguez open up play with another two points with 8:00 to go to cut it to six and then freshman forward
Jalynn Clark (Irvington, N.J./Elizabeth) split a pair of free throws at 7:07 to make it a six-point, 50-44 game once again. Unfortunately, the Cougars answered with a 13-1 run to open up an 18-point, 63-45 lead with 53 seconds to go. Kean eventually won the game by 16 at 65-49.
Highlights:
- Rodriguez finished with a team-best 21 points to gi with a game-high five steals and a team-high four assists. She has scored at least 20 points in 15 of 17 games this season, including 13 straight.
- Reese added a team- and season-high nine rebounds to her day.
Up Next:
No rest for the weary as the Gothic Knights return to action tomorrow afternoon, Sunday, Jan. 29, for a non-conference clash with #4/1 Christopher Newport University back at the JMAC. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
