JAMAICA, NY --- (
www.YORKATHLETICS.com) York College women's basketball owned most of the first quarter against the Rutgers University-Newark Scarlet Raiders (1-1) in the 2021-22 season opener but were unable to hold on during a 74-68 non-conference setback at home inside York Gymnasium.
"We showed a lot of fight today. We just kept picking at it. We need to take care of the ball more to limit our turnovers. I think we need to clean a couple of things up, but I do love the fight that the ladies showed out there playing for the first time. We didn't have numbers. Some people were out there playing for 40 minutes and they fought." - head coach
Kimani Jackson
The Cardinals got off to a slow start, giving up five turnovers and hitting on 1-of-5 from the field to trail 5-2 in the opening 3:04 of play.
Mac-Dege Dessources and
Adrianna Murray each scored four points during an 8-0 York run to push the Cardinals ahead, 10-7, with 4:09 left in the first quarter. Both teams traded leads before Ebony Odom Barnes drained a three-pointer with eight seconds left to give Rutgers-Newark a 16-15 lead heading into the second quarter. The Scarlet Raiders outscored York by five in the second period and twice went up by seven points to take a 37-31 lead into intermission.
York played from behind for the final 30:08 and chipped away on a pair of made Dessources free-throws to make it a 40-38 game with 6:45 showing on the third-quarter clock. Rutgers-Newark answered with seven-straight points to build a nine-point cushion (47-38) with 5:13 left during a third period that saw York hold a 19-17 scoring advantage. Trailing 59-52, York pulled within two as
Mary Meshanski drained a three-pointer and followed with a layup with 5:13 remaining in the game. Rutgers-Newark later used an 8-0 run from 3:21 to 1:23 to build a game-high 10-point lead (72-62). Dessources scored York's final four points before Fancy Janvier's layup closed out the scoring for Rutgers-Newark to settle the 74-68 final.
Leading the way for York was Dessources, who notched her 29th-career double-double, scoring a career-high 34 points on 14-of-26 shooting from the floor to go along with 25 rebounds (14 offensive) and four blocks in 40 minutes of action. Meshanski netted a career-high nine points off the Cardinal bench.
Kristina Sierra added nine points and nine rebounds while
Alicia Gumbs dished out seven assists.
Aminata Sagna chipped in nine rebounds and three steals.
Samiyah Horton paced Rutgers-Newark with 23 points on 10-17 shooting. Syncere Lambert followed with 15 points and a game-high eight steals. Elisha India Cross added 14 points, eight assists (game-high) and three steals to the win.
York won the boards battle by 32 (60-28), scoring 21 second-chance points off 25 offensive rebounds. Rutgers-Newark made the most of York's 38 turnovers by converting the Cardinal miscues into 34 points. The Scarlet-Raiders also scored consistently in transition with 20 fast-break points compared to York's six. York shot 43.3 percent from the field (26-of-60), 30 percent from long distance (3-of-10) and 52 percent from the free-throw line (13-of-25) while Rutgers-Newark connected on 39.5 percent from the floor (30-of-76), 25 percent from three-point territory (7-of-28) and 50 percent from the stripe (7-of-14).
The Cardinals (0-1) return to the court on November 18 with a non-conference matchup on the road against the Ramapo College Roadrunners (1-0) at 5:30 p.m. inside Bradley Center in Mahwah, New Jersey.
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