JERSEY CITY, N.J. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | With 6:35 to go in its home opener, the New Jersey City University women's basketball team (1-3, 0-1 NJAC) held a six-point lead and looked like it had a good chance to break its 10-game losing streak against Kean University (3-1, 1-0 NJAC). However, the Cougars ended the game on a 17-7 run, including scoring the game's final six points to pull off the 61-57 victory in both team's 2019-2020 New Jersey Athletic Conference opener on Tuesday, November 26 at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (Coach Charlie Brown Court).
The Gothic Knights started the game shooting the lights out, scoring 23 points in the first quarter on 60 percent shooting (9-15) and a perfect 4-4 from deep. Junior point guard Alexandria Sams led the way with three of those threes and two assists as well, leading to an eight-point edge after the first 10 minutes (23-15).
Kean slowly ate away at that lead over the course of the second and third quarters, however, taking the Gothic Knight lead down to one (42-41) heading into the final quarter.
Two players led the way all night for the Cougars, sophomore guard Shannon McCoy (Barnegat, N.J.) and senior backcourt partner Payce Lange (Tewksbury, N.J.). McCoy led the way with 23 points and five steals, tacking on three rebounds, an assist, and a steal. Lange had 22 points and six rebounds, with the two getting to the line a combined 20 times. The Gothic Knights shot a total of 13 free throws as a team.
For the Knights, with their standout rookie center/point guard Jasmine Reese in foul trouble all night (collecting two points and five rebounds in just 10 minutes), it was a team effort instead, with nine different players scoring, and no player tallying more than a dozen. Junior forward Ayanna Lewis led the team in scoring, tallying 12 points to go along with six boards and a game-high three blocks.
The midrange game was working all night for junior guard/forward Dayjah Anderson who tallied 10 points and six rebounds, and freshman forward Sarah Edmond hustled her way to an impressive 15 rebounds, six points, two assists, two steals, and plenty of strong defensive plays in what was her best game in the green and gold.
All that added up to the aforementioned one-point lead for the Knights heading into the fourth quarter. The Cougars quickly took the lead on a Lange three, but the Knights responded with an 8-0 run to hold a 50-44 lead with 6:35 to go—a lead NJCU held until under a minute remaining, when Kean took just their fourth lead of the game—and first since 6-5 at the 6:37 mark of the opening quarter—on yet another McCoy jumper, but it proved to be all the edge they'd need.
McCoy hit a pair of big free throws with 12 seconds remaining after an NJCU turnover 22 seconds earlier, clinching the NJAC opener for the visiting Cougars. Graduate forward Cindy Foresta (Monroe Township, N.J.) had 11 rebounds in the comeback for Kean.
NOTABLES:
- Series: 69th meeting. Kean leads, 57-12 and has won the last 11 meetings.
- The 12 points for Lewis and 10 points for Anderson were both an NJCU career high for the junior transfers.
- The 15 rebounds for Edmond were the highest for a Gothic Knight since Marajiah Bacon also collected 15 rebounds in a win over Drew College on 12/17/18.
UP NEXT:
- After the Thanksgiving break, the Gothic Knights head back out of conference to host Baruch College (5-0) in Jersey City on Monday, December 2 at 7:00 p.m.
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