UNION, N.J. (3/5/14) – In her final action at Harwood Arena, center Simone Smith led the Kean University women's basketball team to a 73-57 victory in the quarterfinals of the ECAC Metro Tournament on Wednesday. The senior finished with 19 points and 21 rebounds in the game.
The Cougars opened the scoring just two seconds into the matchup; Jaquetta Owens fed AnnaRose Pierre under the hoop off the tip for the opening layup.
The Cougars were dominant underneath in the opening minutes. 14 of the team's first 15 points came from within the lane and Kean led 12-5 in rebounds after five minutes.
Essence Casey (pictured left) hit the first long-range shot of the night for the Cougars. That three-point bucket that made the score 22-12 with a dozen minutes to go in the half.
Lehman made a small run to cut into the Kean cushion, but Shanice Jones made a nice running layup down the lane to bump the lead back up to 10 and forced the Lightning to take their second timeout.
Lehman was able to stay within striking distance by forcing 14 Kean turnovers in the first half, but every other stat was heavily slanted toward the home team. Kean led rebounds 28-18, outshot the Lightning 53 percent to 33 percent and had five blocks to none as they took a 10-point advantage into the locker room.
Kean threw its weight around as the second half began; the Cougars allowed just two Lightning points in the first six minutes as the gap grew steadily larger.
A 6-0 run fueled by a pair of Lehman treys brought the visitors within single digits with 10 minutes to go in regulation. Another three by Jennifer Navarro and a layup by Shalaya Nieves cut the Cougar cushion down to seven at 8:30 – the smallest lead of the second period.
Head coach Mandy King called timeout at that point, and Kean rattled off 12 unanswered points immediately afterward to put the game on ice. Shay Collins, Casey, Owens and Smith were all a part of that game-winning run.
Navarro led Lehman with 31 points, including a half-court three at the buzzer.
Kean will advance to the semifinals of the ECAC Metro Tournament on Saturday. Game time and location will be announced shortly.
