UNION, N.J. (11/23/13) – AnnaRose Pierre had 23 points as the Kean University women's basketball team won a streaky 87-82 matchup with NJAC rival Richard Stockton College on Saturday. The Cougars had five players in double figures on the afternoon.
Stockton started off hot and scored the first nine points of the contest in just the first two minutes. Essence Casey hit a baseline jumper for the first Cougar points of the game.
Two three-pointers by Stephanie Carlone brought the Cougars back within one with 12 minutes to go in the first half. Jaquetta Owens capped a 13-3 Kean run with a steal and a lay-in to put the Cougars in the lead for the first time at 10:58.
Shay Collins kept the momentum on Kean's side with a running jumper in the lane and Pierre hit a layup on the next possession to keep the Cougars ahead until the eight-minute mark of the half.
Despite losing the advantage momentarily, Pierre, Casey, Owens and Simone Smith brought Kean right back to the front with scores on seven-straight possessions that put the Cougars up by 12 with four minutes to go in the period. It was part of a larger 28-14 run for the hosts.
After falling behind 9-0 in the opening two minutes, Kean (2-2, 1-0 NJAC) outscored the Ospreys 48-27 in the next 18 to take a lead of a dozen points into the locker room. The Cougars forced 15 turnovers and had 22 points off of those Stockton miscues. Kean also dominated fast-break points (12-4) and points off the bench (21-8).
Pierre started the second-half scoring with a jumper from the wing, and Kean continued to open up its lead by outscoring the Ospreys 10-5 over the first five minutes of the period. Four different Cougars – Smith, Pierre, Owens and Casey - were already in double figures by that point.
Stockton (1-2, 0-1 NJAC) was able to trim the Cougars' lead down to four with an 18-5 run capped by a fast-break lay-in and traditional three-point play by Lauren Alwan. Pierre, Carlone and Kenya Adams scored for Kean to push the lead back to a more comfortable seven points with seven minutes to go.
The Ospreys continued to fight, and Alex Nardoza hit a pair of free throws to cut the Cougar lead all the way down to two from what had been as much as 18. Pierre answered with three-straight points, and Owens hit two from the charity stripe to bump the lead back to five with three minutes on the board.
With two minutes to go, Cardone set up Smith for a transition layup and Pierre completed an and-1 play for a six-point lead. With four seconds on the board, Casey hit a pair of huge free throws to move the advantage from two to four and seal the win for the Cougars.
Carlone joined her four other teammates in double figures; Pierre led Kean with 23 points and Adams (pictured left) paced the squad with 11 rebounds. The Ospreys were led by led by Nardoza's 28 points. The teams evenly split the 86 boards in the game and Stockton actually shot a bit better than Kean (47 percent to 42.5 percent).
The Cougars will continue NJAC play on Tuesday night when they host Ramapo College at 8 p.m.
