Strong First Half Leads Women's Basketball Over Queens in Season Opener
ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. – The Thomas Jefferson University women's basketball team (1-0) outscored the Knights 42-23 in the first half as they shot 55.26% in that period as the Rams would win 67-53 over Queens College in non-conference East Region Challenge action to begin their 2023-24 season campaign in Saturday afternoon action.
WHAT HAPPENED
Queens would get ahead with the first four points, but Jefferson responded by going on a 14-0 run to make it 14-4 with 4:41 left in the first quarter. The Rams, who are receiving votes from the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) in the nation and ranked #15 by the D2CSC pre-season national poll, would respond as
Haley Meinel,
Sam Yencha, and
Emma Kuczynski would all have four points during that stretch. The Knights would respond with a layup and three pointer to cut the lead within five, but the Rams scored six in a row to be up 20-9. After another Queen's three pointer, the Rams would end the first quarter leading 24-14.
The Knights score on two free throws and a jumper to have it 24-18 with just under a minute into the second quarter. Meinel and Yencha would each score six points as the Rams went on a 12-0 to extend their lead 36-18 with 5:25 to the half. Jefferson would keep ahold of their lead as they would score six points in the final minute of the half while Queens had five during that span, as the Rams went into the break up 42-23.
Queens jumped out strong in the third, scoring back to back threes from Brianna Davis and Jalea Abrams to make it 44-29 in favor of the Rams. Meinel would respond as she hit her own three, the only three-pointer made by Jefferson, while
Cassie Murphy made her jumper to make it a 20-point lead for the Rams with 6:38 left in the third. After trading points, Jefferson would end the third quarter on a 8-0 run to head into the fourth up 59-33.
After Lateisha Willis made a layup for Queen's, the Rams would get the next four points from a
Janice Ashong layup and two
Tori Nigro free throws to give Jefferson a 63-35 lead with 1:07 into the fourth quarter. The Knights would slowly cut the lead as they went on a 18-2 run to make it 65-51 with under a minute left in the quarter. Jefferson and Queens would trade buckets in the final minute, with the Rams securing a 67-53 win to open their regular season.
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
Haley Meinel: 25 points on 11-of-19 shooting (1-1 3PT), 4 steals, 3 rebounds
Sam Yencha: 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting, 6 rebounds, 3 steals
Cassie Murphy: 10 points on 5-of-11 shooting, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks
Emma Kuczynski: 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting, 3 assists, 3 steals
UP NEXT
Jefferson will look to conclude their East Region Challenge competition when they face host team Molloy University on Sunday, November 12 at 12 p.m.
