JERSEY CITY, NJ - Autumn John (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway) scored her second-highest tally of the season in a 62-50 win over Rutgers-Newark on Wednesday, January 29 at the John J. Moore Athletics & Fitness Center. 

NJCU (8-11, 7-5) won its fourth game in five outings despite shooting below 30% from the floor. John led the Gothic Knights with 14 points while Tahirah Kelley (Linden, N.J./Immaculate Conception) followed up with 12. Destiny Battle (East Orange, N.J./East Orange STEM Academy) and Na'Tori Postell added 10 each with Battle dishing out a team-high six assists. Rutgers-Newark (3-16, 0-12) remained without an NJAC win on the night after tallying just 26 points through three quarters. Raihanna Abdus-Salaam tallied a team-high 11 points off of the bench while Tracey Ilderis and Zoe Francis-Bunkley recorded 10 each. 

Both offenses got off to a slow start with each team scoring three points in the opening four minutes of play. Elyssa Russo (Teaneck, N.J./Teaneck) kept NJCU ahead with a jumper before Tahirah Kelley (Linden, N.J./Immaculate Conception) stretched the Gothic Knights' lead to three. With points coming at a premium the first quarter ended 9-8. 

NJCU's offense woke up in the second stanza, marking their second-highest output of the game with 19 points. Aliyah Sanchez put Rutgers-Newark ahead by one with 8:27 left, however, the Scarlet Raiders' offense went dormant scoring just four points for the remainder of the quarter. Battle's three ignited a 7-0 run highlighted by four points from Russo. NJCU saw its lead balloon out to 13 before a late bucket by Rutgers-Newark cut it down to 11 before the break.

Out of the break, the Gothic Knights pushed their lead out to 19 behind a pair of free throws from Kelley. After Kelley went 2-for-2 from the charity stripe, the Gothic Knights' offense stalled the final five minutes, allowing Rutgers-Newark to score five unanswered and take a 12-point deficit into the final quarter. 

Arlenny Medina cut the lead down to 10 for the Scarlet Raiders before a 9-0 by NJCU thanks to five points from John. Offense was the name of the game in the fourth quarter as both teams had their most prolific outputs of the game. After some back-and-forth scoring, Olivia Wooten (East Orange, N.J./Immaculate Conception) cashed in from range to put NJCU ahead by 20. The Scarlet Raiders wouldn't quietly and eventually cut the lead down to eight with 55 seconds left in the game. Postell and Rigo would deliver the final baskets to prevent the comeback by Rutgers-Newark to return to the win column. 

Up Next:
The Gothic Knights return to action on Saturday, February 1 when they head to Union, NJ to take on Kean University at 1:00 pm. 

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