ASTON, Pa. — The New Jersey City University women's basketball team, seeded #2 in the 2023 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship Tournament, picked up a hard-fought, overall team victory in the Quarterfinal Round on Wednesday night, March 1. The Gothic Knights, who did not trail after the first minute of the game, defeated #7-seed Neumann University, 66-59, as four different NJCU players scored in double figures.

Jersey City (16-11) started off strong as, although the Knights (13-14) scored the first points of the game, NJCU followed with a 10-0 run to take an eight-point, 10-2 lead with 4:24 left in the first. Junior center Jimmirah Johnson (Prospect Park, N.J./International) kicked off the run with back-to-back buckets before three other Gothic Knights got in on the action. NJCU ended the first with a nine-point, 16-7 lead, thanks in part to four straight points from junior guard Sarah Edmond (Bloomfield, NJ/Bloomfield) — including a buzzer-beating lay-up as time expired.

After scoring the final six points in the first, Jersey city scored two more two start the second for an 8-0 run to take an 11-point, 18-7 advantage with 8:49 to go until the break. Later on, a layup from senior forward Jasmine Reese (Jersey City, N.J./Hudson Catholic) and another bucket down low from Johnson put NJCU up by a game-high 12 points at 22-10 with 5:23 remaining in the half. It was at that point that Neumann began to trim away slightly and the home team cut the deficit to just five, 28-23, after two quarters of play.

Leading by three at 30-27 with just over a minute gone in the third, junior guard Damaris Rodriguez (Secaucus, N.J./Secaucus) — who had been held scoreless in the first half — made her presence known with a big three to stretch the lead back out to six. However, the Knights managed to chip away and eventually tied the game up at 33-33 with 5:38 left in the third. The game was tied two more times before Jersey City took a three-point, 44-41 lead into the fourth.

Seconds into the final quarter, Neumann drained another three to tie it at 44-44, but Reese and senior guard Jada Camacho (Jersey City, N.J./Dickinson) sank a jumper and a three, respectively, to make it a five-point, 49-44 game with 8:08 to go. The home team managed to tie it up two more times, including as late as the 5:57 mark at 51-51. Johnson and Rodriguez sank a pair of baskets to make it 55-51 in favor of NJCU with 5:02 left, but another Knights' three cut it back to one moments later. Jersey City hunkered down and scored 11 of the game's final 16 points, however, to seal the seven-point, 66-59 victory.

Highlights:
- Johnson and Rodriguez led NJCU with 14 points apiece, while the latter dished out a game-best eight assists and notched a team-high-tying two steals.
- Camacho and Reese each chipped in 12 points a pop. Camacho added seven boards, a career-high five assists and a team-high-tying two steals. Reese pulled down five rebounds and added two assists.
- Edmond finished with a team-best 10 rebounds to go with six points, while sophomore center Liyah Allen (Hillside, N.J./Hillside) added six points, six rebounds and a game-best three blocks.

Up Next:
The victory secured the Gothic Knights' spot in the ECAC Semifinal round, where they will square off with who else byut #3-seeded New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) foe William Paterson University. The game, which will take place on Saturday, March 4, at 6:00 p.m. on the campus of #1 seed and fellow NJAC institution Ramapo College in Mahwah, N.J., serves as the rubber match for Jersey City and the Pioneers, who split this season's two-game regular-season series, both winning at home. The will be the first time in the known series' history that the two programs will meet on a neutral court. The winner will squad off on Sunday afternoon, March 5, at 2:00 p.m. against the winner of the Roadrunners versus #5-seed Alvernia University, which takes place at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday.