CAMDEN, N.J (Jan. 8, 2020) – Freshman guard/forward
Jalissa Pitts scored a game-high 20 points and added a career-high 13 rebounds for her first collegiate double-double as she led the Rutgers University-Camden women's basketball team to its first New Jersey Athletic Conference win of the season here Wednesday night with a 63-52 victory over Ramapo College.
The win was the second straight for the Scarlet Raptors, who improved to 7-5 overall and 1-5 in the NJAC. Ramapo, which has lost four straight, fell to 8-5 overall and 2-4 in the conference.
Rutgers-Camden leads the all-time series, 41-22, and has won its last five games against Ramapo.
The two teams traded leads eight times and were tied once in the first half before the Scarlet Raptors took a 23-22 lead at the break on a layup by junior guard
Shane Holmes. Although the Raptors were tied two more times in the third quarter, they never trailed the rest of the way, opening up a lead as big as 16 points (53-37).
Pitts led the second-half surge with 15 points and 10 rebounds after the break. Her 13 boards passed her previous high of 11, which came against Penn State-Lehigh Valley (Nov. 15) and her 20 points were five shy of her career high set at Penn State-Schuylkill on Nov. 12.
Senior guard
Fatimah Williams added 15 points, pushing her career total to 963. She also added a game-high four assists. Holmes scored nine points and tallied a game-high four steals, while freshman center
Kayla Newton also canned nine points. Newton added three steals and tied for game-high honors with two blocked shots.
Sophomore guard/forward
Tamara Johnson scored 10 points and had three steals for the Raptors.
Senior guards Cherie Smedile and Samantha Rinaldi each notched 12 points for the Roadrunners. Junior center Alie Wickersheim had eight points and a game-high 14 rebounds, while tying Newton with two blocks.
Rutgers-Camden shot only 17-for-48 (35.4 percent) from the floor and was out-rebounded, 37-33, but forced 22 Roadrunner turnovers. Ramapo shot 18-for-47 (38.3) from the floor. The Scarlet Raptors went 27-for-39 (69.2) from the foul line, aided by the hot hand of Pitts, who went 11-for-13 from the charity stripe. Ramapo shot 8-for-14 (57.1) from the line.
The Scarlet Raptors play another NJAC home game Saturday when they face Rutgers-Newark at 1 p.m.
