New York, N.Y. — Playing in front of a packed Doghouse for the 2006-07 home opener the John Jay women’s basketball used a balanced scoring attack to put away Ramapo as the Bloodhounds came away with a 64-59 win over the Roadrunners to earn their first win of the season.
The win puts John Jay at 1-2, while Ramapo falls to 1-2.
Melissa Escalera (Bronx, NY/ Adali E Stevenson) seeing action for the first time this season, led John Jay in the balanced attack as she recorded a game-high 16 points on 8-for-12 shooting to go along with seven rebounds.
Fellow teammates Ganimete Ukperaj (Bellmore, NY/ John F Kennedy), Lashannen Hogue (Yonkers, NY/ Roosevelt), and Nasira Johnson (Newark, NJ/ West Side) each chipped in with 14 a piece in the win.
Ukperaj shot 6-for-11 from the field, grabbed five rebounds, and dished out four assists as John Jay shot 47 percent from the field, including 54 percent in the second half.
Hogue brought down a game-high 19 rebounds, recorded five assists, and three blocks, while Johnson went 10-for-10 from the free throw line.
John Jay led much of the way, and never trailed in the second half. The visiting Roadrunners jumped out to a 5-0 early for their biggest lead of the night.
The Bloodhounds took their first lead of the night 11-9 at the 11:55 mark on a three-point field goal by Janise Higgins (Cambria Heights, NY/ Christ the King) and built their lead to as much as six before (24-18) before going into the locker room with a 24-21 lead.
John Jay led by as much as 10 in the second half on two separate occasions (41-31 and 55-45 with 5:53 to play on a lay-up by Ukperaj.
But Ramapo hung around and got the lead to within three (59-56) on a jumper by Lauren Moschel (Fair Lawn, NJ/ St. Mary’s) with 40 seconds to go, then again (62-59) with six seconds remaining on a three-point field goal by Kelly Bartz (Madison, NJ/ Madison).
But clutch foul shooting by Johnson would forbid any Ramapo comeback as she shot 4-for-4 from the charity stripe in the final minute to preserve the win.
Bartz led three Roadrunners in double figures with 15 points. Fellow teammate Tiffany China (West Orange, NJ/ West Orange) contributed with 13, while Natasha Gross (Glen Rock, NJ/ Glen Rock) chipped in with 12, and a team-high 13 rebounds.
The Bloodhounds will return to action for game two of their three game homestand on Mon. Nov. 27 against New Jersey City Univ. at 5 p.m.
