Stevens Topped by TCNJ, 72-57
Justin Lutes
EWING, N.J. (January 27, 2014) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team fell to 11-7 on the season with a 72-57 non-conference loss to in-state foe The College of New Jersey on Monday evening in Packer Hall. Stevens has dropped each of its past three meetings with TCNJ dating back to 2011-12.
With the win, the Lions improve to 12-6 and snap a three-game losing streak.
TCNJ outshot the Ducks, 33.8-percent (22-for-65) to 30.4-percent (21-for-69) from the floor and made 11 more free throws (21 to 10) on Monday night. Stevens was also on the wrong end of the turnover battle, 18 to 10, but did grab 50 rebounds (21 offensive), compared to 47 for TCNJ.
The Ducks scored the game's opening basket just 48 seconds in to take a 2-0 lead, but neither team could tally a point over the next three minutes until TCNJ hit a free throw with 16:14 to go in the half.
Freshman
Erica Guketlov (Spotswood, N.J.) then staked Stevens to its largest lead of the contest, 5-1, with a three-pointer on the ensuing trip down the floor after the Lions' made free throw. TCNJ answered back with a 7-0 run to capture its first lead of the matchup just over six minutes in.
After the Ducks battled back to knot the scoreboard at 8-8 with 12 minutes to go, the two counterparts would trade leads four more times and were tied on three separate occasions through the next four minutes.
With 8:06 remaining in the half, TCNJ regained the advantage for the final time in the first stanza, 15-14, and eventually went into intermission with a 37-28 lead.
Stevens fell behind by 11 points, 39-28, on TCNJ's first possession of the second half and could never get back to within a seven-point spread for the remainder of the game after senior
Avis Benjamin (Queens, N.Y.) put in a layup to make the difference, 39-32, with 18:15 left on the clock.
TCNJ ballooned its edge out to 20 points with just over seven minutes left in regulation, 65-45, and would close out the game from there on out.
Sophomore
Kaitlyn Astel (Staten Island, N.Y.) led all players with 17 points on 8-for-14 shooting to go along with six rebounds. Benjamin just missed a double-double with 11 points and eight boards, while Guketlov added 11 points as well.
Senior
Molly Spadaro (Sewell, N.J.) chipped in eight points and six rebounds, while sophomore
Dylan Krause (Atlanta, Ga.) snatched six boards and freshman
Brittany Washington (Iselin, N.J.) contributed seven more rebounds.
TCNJ was paced by 14 points from Kelly Roddy, 11 points and eight rebounds from Liz West and 10 points by Angelica Esposito.
The Ducks are back in action this weekend for two crucial Empire 8 Conference games against St. John Fisher College at 8 p.m. on Friday and Nazareth College at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. Stevens is fifth in the conference with a 4-4 record, while Fisher is fourth at 4-3 and Nazareth is 2-4 and sits in sixth.