Box Score

MAHWAH, N.J. (Feb. 8, 2017) – With two New Jersey Athletic Conference games left in the regular season, the Rutgers University-Camden women's basketball team has backed itself into a critical situation in its hopes to make the six-team NJAC playoffs.
 
Rutgers-Camden, which entered Wednesday night's action in a three-way tie for the final conference playoff berth, had only one team on its remaining schedule that was behind it in the standings. The Scarlet Raptors lost to that team here Wednesday night, dropping a 47-43 decision at ninth-place Ramapo College.
 
The Raptors have only two games remaining, both home contests and both against teams ahead of them in the standings. They host William Paterson Saturday at 1 p.m. and finish up next Wednesday with a 6 p.m. contest against NJAC-leading Montclair State University, the nation's 17th-ranked team.
 
The victory lifts Ramapo to 9-14 overall and 4-12 in the NJAC.
 
Rutgers-Camden falls to 13-10 overall and 7-9 in conference play, They are tied for seventh place in the conference with Rutgers-Newark (which owns the tie-breaker over the Raptors with two head-to-head wins) and are one game behind both William Paterson and The College of New Jersey (which lost twice against Rutgers-Camden, giving the Raptors that head-to-head tiebreaker). If the Raptors can beat Paterson Saturday, they would own a split against the Pioneers for the season, then any two-team tie-breaker involving the Raptors and the Pioneers would come down to which team beat the higher-ranked team in the NJAC standings. At the moment, Rutgers-Camden has that advantage.
 
Newark closes its regular season against Rowan University and TCNJ. The Lions play Montclair State next before ending with Newark. Paterson comes to Rutgers-Camden and closes the regular-season home against Kean.
 
With the victory, Ramapo snapped a five-game losing streak in the all-time series against Rutgers-Camden. The Raptors now lead the all-time series 36-22.
 
Trailing by seven points, 32-25, after the Roadrunners scored the first field goal of the fourth quarter, the Scarlet Raptors went on a six-point run to cut their deficit to one. Four of those points were scored by junior guard/forward Cara Racobaldo (Pennsauken, NJ/Camden Catholic).
 
Ramapo scored six of the next eight points to pad its lead to 38-33, but the Scarlet Raptors rattled off the next six points, taking the lead with 3:23 remaining on a foul shot by junior guard Jovan Childers (Bridgeton, NJ/Bridgeton).
 
After Ramapo regained the lead with the next four points, the Raptors tied the game at 42-42 on a three-pointer by sophomore guard Gabby Greene (Howell, NJ/Howell). It was Greene's second trey of the game and her 74th of the season, setting a new Rutgers-Camden record. She passed the mark of 73 set by Alex Gravinese during the 2014-15 season.
 
Ramapo took the lead for good moments later on a layup by sophomore forward Tia Solomon (Fair Lawn, NJ/Fair Lawn). The Raptors managed to cut that gap to 44-43, but junior guard Jina Crawford (New City, NY/Paramus Catholic) hit a jumper moments later to make it a 46-43 game. Rutgers-Camden missed three trey attempts and a jumper in the final 14 seconds, while the Roadrunners tacked on a late insurance point from the line.
 
The Scarlet Raptors shot only 17-for-65 (26.2 percent) from the field, including 2-for-27 (7.4) from three-point range. Ramapo shot 19-for-51 (37.3) from the field and the Roadrunners' 50-38 advantage off the boards was enough to help them overcome 29 turnovers.
 
Freshman forward Jenna Harsh (Metuchen, NJ/Bishop Ahr) scored 13 points to lead eight Roadrunners in the scoring column, while Solomon had a game-high 11 rebounds.
 
Rutgers-Camden received 11 points apiece from Racobaldo and freshman guard Fatimah Williams (Camden, NJ/Timber Creek). Racobaldo added a game-high five steals, while tying Childers with a team-high eight rebounds and two assists.
 
Racobaldo's 11 points hiked her career total over the 600 plateau to 601.