KEAN WOMEN SLIDE BY RAMAPO, 69-61
Mahwah, NJ: The Ramapo College women’s basketball team fell short, 61-69 to the Cougars of Kean University tonight in NJAC action at the Bradley Center in Mahwah. Ramapo falls to 2-3 overall, 0-2 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference while Kean remains undefeated on the year standing at 4-0 overall, 2-0 in the conference.
The Roadrunners hit a jumper to open the game and sat back to watch Kean’s Francine Bell (Orange, NJ) sink five points and Ebony Jackson (Newark, NJ) hit a free throw to take a 6-2 lead. Ramapo’s KEONA PALMER (Port Reading, NJ) and ALISON BELLER (Morris Plains, NJ) grabbed two points each to tie the game at six before Kean jumped out to a four point lead, 13-9 at the 11:18 mark. The Roadrunners kept it close for the next two minutes posting the second tie of the game at 8:51, 13-13, and jumping ahead at 8:21, 15-13. The Cougars held the Roadrunners for the next three minutes to no baskets taking a 20-15 lead, and again the last three minutes of the half grabbing a 30-23 halftime lead. Kean jumped ahead by as many as eight in the first 20 minutes shooting 21% in the half, 9-42, and forced 17 Ramapo turnovers while the Roadrunners hit 10-32 shooting 31% and forcing seven Cougar turnovers.
In the final minutes of action, Kean jumped ahead to a 16 point lead just two minutes into the half before Ramapo went on a short 6-0 run closing the gap, 33-41. Kean answered with a 12-0 run and PALMER sparked a second Ramapo run, 10-0 at 11:05 with a good jumper closing the gap 47-59. The Roadrunners fought to come within four at the two minute mark but were unable to capitalize falling short, 61-69. The Roadrunners finished the night shooting 34%, 23-67 ahead of the Cougars 33%, 22-67.
Senior KELLY BARTZ (Madison, NJ) led the team hitting 6-14 from the field for 14 points while PALMER followed netting 12 points and adding 13 rebounds for the double-double. DENEE VADELL (East Rutherford, NJ) posted 12 points of her own and recorded six steals while rookie KHIADA EVANS (Newark, NJ) dished out a team high seven assists.
For the Cougars, rookie Melissa Beyruti (Union City, NJ) posted 18 team leading points hitting 6-10 from the field, 4-7 from behind the arc while Chi Clark (Maplewood, NJ) followed netting 16 points with a team leading 16 rebounds for the double-double. Beyruti led in assists and steals posting three of each in the win.
The Roadrunners will return to action on Saturday, December 3rd when they travel to Rutgers Camden for a 1:00 PM tip off while the Cougars host The College of New Jersey at 1:00 PM.