STOCKTON BREAKS FOUR-GAME LOSING STREAK WITH 53-49 WIN OVER RAMAPO
Mahwah, NJ: The Ramapo College women’s basketball team opened the NJAC season tonight at the Bradley Center in Mahwah hosting the Ospreys of Richard Stockton College. The Ospreys, who came into tonight on a four-game losing streak, broke the cycle defeating the Roadrunners, 53-49. The Ospreys improve to 2-4 overall, 1-0 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference while Ramapo falls to 1-3 overall, 0-1 in the conference.
The first half came to an end with the Ospreys on top by two, 27-25, after shooting 42%, 11-26 from the field. Ramapo also hit 11-26 from the field nailing 2-4 from the line. Stockton’s Jenna Shenk (Mt. Laurel, NJ) and Lisa Neira (Cresskill, NJ) led the way with eight points each while rookie Beth Weinmann (Pompton Plains, NJ) led Ramapo with six first half points. Senior guard Kelly Bartz (Madison, NJ) dished out a team high four assists and grabbed two steals and Neira grabbed five first half steals for the Ospreys. The first 20 minutes knotted six times with the biggest lead coming at the 16:47 minute mark when the Roadrunners led by five, 7-2.
Stockton spread their lead to 11 in the final half with 11:24 left to play when Neira hit a jump shot pushing the Ospreys up, 43-32. The Roadrunners closed the gap to one at 5:20 with a lay up from Tiffany China (West Orange, NJ), and again at 0:40, off two good free throws from Natasha Gross (Glen Rock, NJ), but were unable to hold on falling by four. Neira finished the night with 23 points and six steals while Shenk sunk 12 of her own in the win. As a team the Ospreys went 21-51 (41%) while Ramapo hit 19-50, 38%. Gross finished the night on top of the Roadrunners with 11 points hitting 7-8 from behind the line while Weinmann posted her first collegiate double-double with ten points and 12 boards. China recorded nine points in the loss.
Ramapo returns to action on Saturday, December 2nd when they travel to Kean University for a 1:00 PM start while Stockton hosts Rutgers Newark at 2:00 PM in Pomona.