NEWARK, N.J. (March 3, 2012) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team's 2011-12 season came to a close with a 75-43 loss to the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in the semifinals of the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Metro Tournament Championship. Senior Jillian Barrett (Philadelphia, Pa.) ended her career with her team-leading 13th double-double of the season (11 points/14 rebounds) and sophomore Avis Benjamin (Queens, N.Y.) led the Ducks with 18 points.
Stevens stayed close over the opening half, and held a four-point lead four minutes into the game as Benjamin hit a layup for an early 6-2 advantage. But Stockton scored the next nine points and went ahead 11-6, and never relinquished the lead.
Victoria Webber (Silver Spring, Md.) got the Ducks within two with eight minutes to go in the first with a lay-in. After another Stockton run, Benjamin's layup three minutes later brought the Stevens defecit back down to three.
Again, Stockton went on a run, but as was the pattern in the first half, the Ducks answered it. Stevens scored the last seven points of the half, with six of those seven coming on Benjamin layups.
The second half was a different story, as the Osprey depth began to play a factor. They got the lead to double digits five minutes in and it seemed as though the Ducks ran out of gas. Stevens was held to just 15 points in the final 20 minutes, while Stockton exploded for 44.
Stockton dominated the points in the paint, scoring a whopping 44 points to the Ducks' 18. The Ospreys also scored 16 points off the 23 Stevens turnovers.
Saturday was the final collegiate game for the Stevens senior class of Jillian Barrett, Victoria Webber, Dawn Garcia (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Isa Guzman (Union City, N.J.) and Kate Cox (Aston, Pa.), who end their careers as two-time Empire 8 Champions.
New Jersey Athletic Conference foes Rutgers-Newark and Richard Stockton will battle for the ECAC Metro D-III Women's Basketball Championship on Sunday in The Golden Dome Arena.
The top-seeded Scarlet Raiders (20-8) stopped Brooklyn College (22-8), 59-45, behind stingy defense and a plus-15 advantage in rebounding. The tipoff for Rutgers-Newark's first ever ECAC Metro Championship game is set for 7 p.m.
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