Box Score

ELMIRA, N.Y. – Senior center Tanjae Lewis (Magnolia, NJ/Sterling) grabbed an offensive rebound and put back a buzzer-beating layup to lift the Rutgers University-Camden women's basketball team over Elmira College, 54-52, in a non-conference game here Tuesday night.
 
Rutgers-Camden improves to 4-7 with its third straight win, while Elmira falls to 3-4.
 
The Scarlet Raptors led most of the game, but a 12-4 second-half run put the Soaring Eagles in front, 47-43, late in the contest. Junior forward Meghan Loya (Bethel, CT/Immaculata) had eight points in that stretch.
 
Rutgers-Camden cut the gap to 47-46 on a three-point play by junior guard/forward Kamari Talley (Camden, NJ/Creative Arts), who was making her first appearance with the Raptors since transferring from Saint Francis University in Pennsylvania after the fall semester.
 
After Elmira built another three-point lead on a trey by senior guard Alex Balara (Marlton, NJ/Gloucester Catholic), the daughter of Raptor Assistant Coach Marc Balara, Rutgers-Camden ran off six straight points to take a 52-50 lead. Talley started the run with a foul shot and finished it with a layup, sandwiching her points around a game-tying three-pointer by senior guard Alex Gravinese (Audubon, NJ/Audubon).
 
Elmira re-tied the game at 52-52 on a layup by sophomore center/forward Karli Pochkar (East Worcester, NY/Worcester), setting the stage for the wild finish.
 
In the final 17 seconds, Balara grabbed the defensive rebound of a missed Raptor shot, only to have a teammate turn over the ball on a steal by Lewis. The Scarlet Raptors called a timeout with four seconds left and set up a shot, which was missed and then rebounded by Lewis. She put a shot back up that fell for the winning basket.
 
Rutgers-Camden led throughout the first half, scoring the first six points of the game and taking a 28-26 lead into the break. Elmira's first lead came at 41-39 following a jumper by Loya.
 
Talley finished with game highs of 17 points and five steals, while adding eight rebounds. Freshman forward Michelle Obasi (Camden, NJ/Camden Catholic) scored 14 points for the Scarlet Raptors, while Gravinese added 12.
 
Senior guard/forward Irene Grimanis (Brooklawn, NJ/Gloucester) grabbed a team-high nine rebounds to move into ninth place on the program's all-time list. Grimanis, who now has 528 boards, passed Imani Hafiz, who had 521 from 2004-08. Eighth place on the list belongs to Michelle Riley (1996-2000), who had 629.
 
Rutgers-Camden out-rebounded Elmira. 41-35, and shot 37.3 percent (22-for-59) from the floor. Elmira shot 22-for-57 (38.6).
 
Balara finished with 16 points for the Soaring Eagles, while adding seven rebounds, four assists and four steals. Loya had a double-double of 12 points and a game-high 10 rebounds and Pochkar notched 10 points and eight rebounds.
 
The Scarlet Raptors return to action Monday, Jan. 5, with a 7 p.m. game at Rosemont College.