MONTCLAIR, N.J. – The New Jersey City University women's basketball team entered Tuesday night, Nov. 21, in search of the squad's first victory of the season. The Gothic Knights – who captured the first New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Regular-Season Championship in program history last season – started off their quest for a 2023-24 NJAC title right by convincingly getting the job done on the road in their conference-opener over Montclair State University, 62-43.
 
For NJCU (1-1, 1-0 NJAC), senior All-American point guard Damaris Rodriguez (Secaucus, N.J./Secaucus) had yet another near-triple-double performance, while sophomore guard Tahirah Kelley (Linden, N.J./Immaculate Conception) – normally known as a strong perimeter defender – had a career-high 14-point night as the two combined to lead the Green and Gold past the Red Hawks (1-4, 0-1 NJAC) to get back to .500 on the early season and nail down the squad's fifth consecutive victory against Montclair – and sixth in the last seven meetings.
 
Despite those two being the only NJCU players in double figures – Rodriguez led all players in points (18), assists (8) and steals (4) and added a team-high nine boards – 15 Gothic Knights saw the floor in the victory, with 11 scoring at least two points. Another defensive standout, senior forward Sarah Edmond (Bloomfield, NJ/Bloomfield) also had a strong game in 16 minutes off the bench, chipping in six points and six boards.
 
The game itself started off slowly, with neither team scoring a bucket until the Red Hawks drained a three with just under seven minutes left in the first quarter to take an early 3-0 advantage. After the home team went up 5-0, NJCU came back to tie it up 6-6 – thanks to buckets from senior forward Kyara Cowan (Maywood, N.J./Hackensack), Kelley and junior guard Alaisha Mumford (Jersey City, N.J./Lincoln) – before eventually taking an 11-9 lead into the second quarter on the strength of a buzzer-beating step-back jumper from senior forward Dayjah Anderson (East Orange, NJ/Newark Tech).
 
Quarter number two also got off to a slow start before NJCU extended its run to 10-0 – including Anderson's first quarter buzzer-beater – to go up 19-9 with 5:17 remaining in the first half. Rodriguez got it started at 6:31 with a three-point bucket before Anderson forced a turnover that ultimately resulted in a fastbreak basket for Mumford. Rodriguez then did it herself, notching the steal and then a fastbreak lay-in to make it 18-9 at 5:47. The Red Hawks cut it back down to a five-point game at 20-15 with 2:15 to go, however rookie guard Ciara Forbes (Teaneck, N.J./Teaneck) and Anderson made it a nine-point game once again with a couple of baskets. Leading by seven with time winding down in the half, Rodriguez drained a three to make it a 10-point, 27-17 game at the break.
 
The start of the third saw Montclair crawl all the way back to make it a four-point game with NJCU up just 27-23, but then the tide began to shift to the Gothic Knights, and they would not relinquish that momentum for the remainder of the game. The Green and Gold finished out the third on a 21-7 run and took an 18-point, 48-30 lead into the fourth – Kelley scored 10 of her 14 over that stretch of nearly six-and-a-half-minutes. After an almost-even fourth, which saw the Gothic Knights go up by a game-high 22 points on two occasions – a three from sophomore guard Elyssa Russo (Teaneck, N.J./Teaneck) at 3:36 and a bucket underneath from Rodriguez at 2:40 – the visitors sealed the 19-point, 62-43 win by the final buzzer.
 
Up Next:
NJCU takes four days off before resuming play after the Thanksgiving Holiday. The Gothic Knights return to the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (JMAC) on Saturday afternoon, Nov. 25, when #RV New Paltz comes to town for a scheduled-3:00 p.m. tipoff on Coach Charlie Brown Court – it will be the first-ever meeting between the Green and Gold and the Hawks.