Photo courtesy of Ramapo Athletics
The Ramapo College women's basketball team suffered a loss this weekend to the No. 23 ranked Ospreys of Stockton University. The game, hosted by the Roadrunners, ended with a final score of 79-55, leaving the Ospreys with an overall record of 5-1 and the Roadrunners at 4-3.
Despite not winning any of three conference games so far, the lady Roadrunners remain optimistic.
“It’s still only the beginning of the season, and we still have a lot to work on, not only individually, but as a team as well,” said junior guard and captain Bridgette Buckalew. “Stockton is predicted to finish first in our NJAC Conference, so we knew it was going to be a tough challenge going into it.”
At the first buzzer, Stockton only held a four point lead of 18-14. In the second, the Roadrunners fell behind as the Ospreys put up an eight point lead until Ramapo hit back-to-back baskets with 1:36 left on the clock. Just as the buzzer signaled the half, senior forward Kellie Lane posted a two-point shot, leaving the Roadrunners down by only five points as they headed off of the court and into the locker room. Senior forward Bintou Berete led Ramapo with nine points in the half overall. Stockton outshot Ramapo by 12 percent, with a combined shooting percentage of 44 percent compared to Ramapo’s 32 percent.
In the third quarter, the Ospreys took the lead 52-40. Stockton continued to dominate the offensive play throughout the remainder of the game. The Ospreys shot 17-35 in the second half while Ramapo went 9-39, resulting in the 24-point conference game deficit. Senior guard Shelby Ringer, sophomore forward Tia Solomon and freshman forward Jenna Harsh each recorded five points for Ramapo in the final half of play.
Berete also led Ramapo with 14 points overall as the team went 19-61 in the loss. Buckalew led the team with five assists and Berete led the team in rebounds posting a total of seven.
Lane explained that the loss would be taken as a learning experience.
“We knew that [Stockton] would be a difficult team to compete against, but we came out hard and although we lost, we’re going to use what we learned to come out stronger next game.”
Sophomore Jenna McDonnell agreed with her captain.
“Overall, the team worked very hard, and we have to take into account that we played a very talented team. We’ll take both the positive and the negative stuff from the game and use that moving forward to work on different aspects that we need to improve upon in the upcoming practices.”
Last night, the Roadrunners won their first conference game with a thrilling 55-52 victory over Rutgers-Newark. They will return to action on Saturday when they will take on Kean University at the Bradley Center at 1 p.m.
khueston@ramapo.edu
