Union, N.J. (1/15/20) – Senior Payce Lange recorded her 1,000th career point as the Kean University women's basketball dropped a 71-65 decision to visiting Rowan University on Wednesday night.
Lange needed 16 coming into tonight's action and registered the go-ahead points with 5:16 to go in the fourth quarter on a jumper in the lane. She becomes the 20th person in program history to achieve the milestone.
Rowan (13-2, 7-1 NJAC) is now tied with The College of New Jersey at the top of the conference standings as half of the conference is separated by two games or less.
The Profs were led by Nicole Mallard who tallied a game-high 25 points. Sophomore Ayanna Johnson pulled down 26 rebounds while blocking seven shots on the night.
The first 20 minutes of action featured a see-saw battle with seven ties. Rowan broke a 21-all deadlock with an 11-0 run with just over three minutes to go in the first half. The Cougars (10-5, 6-2 NJAC) stopped the burst with two points from Lange from the free-throw line. The score would remain that way at the intermission (32-23).
The Profs held the lead for the final 20 minutes with a double-digit advantage for most of the second half. Kean brought the deficit down to single digits with 2:10 to go in the contest and got within four with 25 seconds on the clock. Forced to foul to gain possession late, Rowan added two points on their last two possessions with points from the charity stripe.
Lange finished with a team-high 22 points while adding eight rebounds. Sophomore Shannon McCoy collected 15 points and senior Cindy Foresta brought down 10 rebounds.
The Cougars head to the road to face NJAC leader TCNJ on Saturday.
