CAMDEN, N.J. (Jan. 27, 2024) – On a day where the Rutgers University-Camden community honored its late long-time Athletic Director Jeffrey Dean with a moment of silence before both of its basketball games, it was only fitting that the women's team capped a New Jersey Athletic Conference Raptor sweep with its first win of the season here Saturday.
 
Sophomore guard/forward Taja Brown collected her second double-double of the season and four Scarlet Raptors scored in double figures as Rutgers-Camden survived a 55-54 victory over NJAC sister school Rutgers-Newark.
 
The Raptor win snapped an overall losing streak of 20 games, dating back to a 64-55 victory over William Paterson on Feb. 11, 2023. Rutgers-Camden improved to 1-19 overall this season and tied Newark in the NJAC standings at 1-11 after the two teams split their season series.
 
Newark fell to 2-18 overall.
 
With the Scarlet Raptors playing their first home game since Dean's passing on Tuesday, Rutgers-Camden built a 54-48 lead with two minutes remaining and held a 55-50 advantage with 48 seconds left after a foul shot by freshman guard Maniya Simon. Newark rapidly cut the gap on a layup by junior forward Tracey Ilderis, a Raptor  turnover and a layup by senior forward Ebony Odom Barnes, making it a 55-54 game with 38 seconds remaining. After a Raptor miss and a rebound by Odom Barnes, the Scarlet Raiders missed a pair of three-point shots in the final seconds, including one at the buzzer by freshman guard Raihanna Abdus-Salaam.
 
The victory capped a day that started with the men's team beating Newark, 64-51, and marked the first time the Raptors swept a basketball doubleheader since a pair of wins at Kean University, Feb. 1, 2020.
 
Rutgers-Camden had to rally to post its victory as the Scarlet Raptors were down, 36-25, at halftime. The last field goal of the third quarter, a jumper by Brown, cut their deficit to 43-41. They finally tied the game and took the lead on a three-point play – a layup and foul shot – by senior guard Rahzirah Blocker with 7:20 remaining, making it a 46-45 contest.
 
Rutgers-Camden opened its lead to as many as eight points, 53-45, with just under five minutes remaining before Newark stormed back to set up the thrilling finish.
 
Blocker finished with a game-high 15 points, hiking her career total to 1,049 and passing Andrea Fogel for 15th place on the program's all-time scoring list. Fogel scored 1,037 points from 1986-89. Equally impressive, Blocker went 7-for-7 from the foul line, giving her a career total of 253 successful foul shots, passing the NCAA qualifying minimum of 250 for career records. She is now 253-for-333 from the foul line (.760) to leap into the lead on the Raptors' all-time list for foul shooting percentage. The leader for years has been Tara Harris, who compiled a .711 mark from 1984-88.
 
Freshman forward A'yanna Morton added 12 points for the Raptors, while senior guard Jania Pitts and Brown both scored 11. Brown added her Raptor career high of 14 rebounds to notch her second double-double of the year.
 
Pitts notched a team-leading four steals and joined Blocker and Morton with a team-leading total of three assists apiece.
 
A trio of players – Ilderis, Abdus-Salaam and sophomore forward Aliyah Sanchez – scored 10 points apiece for Newark. Ilderis led the Scarlet Raiders with nine rebounds.
 
Camden shot 18-for-55 (32.7 percent) from the floor, while Newark was 24-for-66 (36.4). The Scarlet Raptors held a 42-40 edge off the boards.
 
The Scarlet Raptors return to NJAC action Wednesday when they host Rowan University at 8 p.m.