JERSEY CITY, N.J. — For the first time in the New Jersey City University women's basketball program's 53-year history, the Gothic Knights have been crowned New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Regular-Season Champions. After a slow start to the season, NJCU finished with a 14-4 mark in NJAC play to earn the top overall seed — and home court advantage throughout — the 2023 NJAC Women's Basketball Tournament following the 63-52 victory at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (JMAC) on Wednesday night, Feb. 15, over Rutgers-Camden. Jersey City also celebrated Senior Night during halftime, bidding farewell to its three graduating seniors, Jasmine Reese, Jada Camacho and Janari Newsome.
As for the actual matchup with the Scarlet Raptors (4-21, 2-16 NJAC), the Gothic Knights (14-10, 14-4 NJAC) started off strong and built up a 12-point, 17-5 lead over the road team with just 1:29 to go in the first quarter before taking a 17-9 lead into the second. Overall, junior guard Damaris Rodriguez scored 15 of those 17 points — she finished the night with a game-best 26 points. That quarter was what made the difference for the most part, as NJCU only outscored Rutgers-Camden 46-41 for the remainder of the contest.
Despite that, the Gothic Knights maintained their lead over Rutgers-Camden all night long and used extremely impressive play on the offensive boards — they out-rebounded the Scarlet Raptors offensively, 27-7 — to hold a 17-0 advantage in second-chance points. Additionally, all 11 active NJCU players on the night saw significant minutes and Jersey City outscored Camden, 15-2, in bench scoring.
In the second quarter, Rutgers cut NJCU's lead down to just four at 19-15 with 8:20 to go until the half. At that point, Jersey City went on an 10-0 run that put the home team up by 14 at 29-15 with 1:55 remaining until the break — sophomore center Liyah ` scored four of her team-leading six second-quarter points over that run on a pair of buckets. The Green and Gold ended up taking an 11-point, 33-22 lead into the half. The third quarter saw the Knights stretch their lead back out to 14 on a couple of occasions before maintaining their 11-point lead after 30 minutes of play.
The fourth and final quarter saw Rutgers-Camden once again claw back to within six as late as 4:15 remaining with the score at 56-50. However six straight NJCU points made it a 12-point, 62-50 game with just 1:22 to go in regulation before Jersey City claimed the NJAC first-place clinching, 11-point victory.
Highlights:
- Rodriguez added team-high-tying totals in rebounds (8), assists (3) and steals (2) after playing the full 40 minutes.
- Reese finished with eight points, seven rebounds, two steals and a block on her senior night.
- Allen added eight points on 4-of-6 shooting to go with six rebounds, a team-high-tying three assists and a game-high-tying two blocks.
- Camacho and sophomore center Briana Davis each grabbed a team-high-tying eight rebounds.
Up Next:
As mentioned, Jersey City is now the top overall seed in the 2023 NJAC Women's Basketball Championship Tournament. With that distinction, the Gothic Knights receive a bye in the first round before returning home on Wednesday evening, Feb. 22, for the semifinal round. NJCU will host the winner of the first round matchup between #4 seed The College of New Jersey and #5 seed William Paterson University — that game takes place in Ewing, N.J., on Saturday, Feb. 18 — and will tip off at 7:00 p.m. The Gothic Knights are guaranteed home court advantage throughout the NJAC Tournament.