Stevens Falls in ECAC Metro Quarters at Rutgers-Newark
Rob Kulish
HOBOKEN, N.J. (February 27, 2013) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women’s basketball team dropped a 71-48 decision to Rutgers-Newark Wednesday night in the quarterfinals of the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Metro Championship at the Golden Dome.
With the loss, Stevens will close its season with an overall mark of 14-13, while Rutgers-Newark improves to 19-9.
The Ducks led in the early going, scoring nine of the game’s first 13 points to take a 9-4 margin 4:31 into the action behind back-to-back layups from junior forward
Avis Benjamin (Queens, N.Y.). Newark threatened, but the Ducks had the answer to start, maintaining a five-point lead at 13-8 after freshman forward
Dylan Krause (Atlanta, Ga.) found junior guard
Lisa Tessitore (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.) for two at the 12:12 mark of the opening period.
The Scarlet Raiders seemed to get their footing from that point forward, using a 17-5 run over a span of a little more than four minutes to take a 25-18 lead. A Benjamin jumper stopped the bubbling momentum briefly, but the hosts ran off five-straight points to push the lead to 10 (30-20) with 5:42 to play in the first.
Stevens was able to hang around over the final five-plus minutes of the half, eventually settling on an eight-point deficit at the break.
A pair of Krause free throws pulled Stevens within six points early in the second, but a 10-0 run for Rutgers-Newark turned a six-point lead into 16 and the Ducks were unable to get closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
Benjamin and freshman
Miranda Ripken (Fallston, Md.) each scored 13 points for the Ducks, while senior forward
Maggie Kowalska (Edison, N.J.) had six points and nine rebounds. Stevens shot 34.0 percent from the field (16-for-47), 0-for-9 from three and 16-for-21 at the line (76.2 percent).
Rutgers-Newark finished with a 39-37 edge on the glass and were plus-11 in turnovers as the Ducks committed 33 compared to 22 for the Scarlet Raiders. Junior forward
Jewell Palmer (Port Reading, N.J.) had 21 points and a team-high six rebounds to pace the hosts.
Newark finished shooting 39.4 percent from the field (26-for-66), 6-for-18 from deep (33.3 percent) and 13-for-16 at the line (81.3 percent). The Scarlet Raiders scored 30 points in the paint, 34 off Duck turnovers and 14 on fast breaks.
The Ducks wrap-up their season with an overall mark of 14-13 as the program has finished at or above .500 each season since 1999-00.