CAMDEN, N.J. (1/11/14) – Despite trailing at halftime, the Kean University women's basketball team used smothering second-half defense and a balanced attack with four players in double figures to pull away from Rutgers-Camden in a 69-53 NJAC contest on Saturday.

Simone Smith led the way for the Cougars with 16 points, and Shay Collins, Shanice Jones and Jazmine Davis also were in double figures for Kean. Jaquetta Owens (pictured left) filled up the stat sheet as well, racking up nine steals, seven rebounds and six assists, all of which led the team.

Saturday marked the first action for Jones this season, and the junior responded by shooting 80 percent from the floor (4-for-5), grabbing six boards and coming in second on the squad with three steals in her debut.

Kean trailed by one point at halftime, but held Rutgers-Camden to just 10 points in first 13 minutes of the second half. After re-taking the lead shortly after the break, the Cougars led for the final 18:35 of game time.

The Cougars forced more than twice as many turnovers as they committed (29-14) and had 19 steals to the Raptors' four in the game.

All the defensive pressure applied by Kean led to Camden taking 15 fewer field goals over the afternoon, which proved decisive in a game where the rebounding total was nearly a dead heat.

The Cougars got nearly 25 percent of their point production off the bench, while Camden did not have any non-starters score.

Kean has now evened up its record at 7-7 on the year and is 4-3 in the NJAC, while the Raptors sink to 2-8 overall and 0-7 in the conference.

The Cougars will next take on the Scarlet Raiders of Rutgers-Newark on Wednesday at 6 p.m. inside Newark's Golden Dome.