NEWARK, NJ – The Cairn University Women's Basketball team tipped off their 2023-24 season on the road Wednesday night in Newark, NJ as they took on Rutgers-Newark inside The Golden Dome. The Scarlet Raiders held off the Highlanders, 69-51.
Rutgers-Newark (1-0) hit the ground running off the tip, going up 8-0 in the first two minutes of play. Freshman guard
Makayla Raines (Jonesboro, GA / St. Mary's Academy) knocked down her first three-pointer of the night to get Cairn (0-1) on the board. Raines would then assist freshman forward
Dezaray Bright (Keystone Heights, FL / Keystone Heights HS) on a layup and make another jumper to take the lead for Cairn, 7-6. As the Scarlet Raiders answered back, Raines and junior forward
Taylor Hinson (Carney's Point, NJ / Collingswood HS) kept things close with a pair of made shots. Rutgers-Newark added on three points late to end the first quarter up 16-11.
The Scarlet Raiders built their lead out of the break, opening on a 10-1 run. Bright knocked down two free throws to cut the lead to nine (26-15) but the Rutgers-Newark offense found a rhythm and closed the half up by 23 points, 43-20. After scoring a few seconds into the second half, the Scarlet Raider offense went into a 7-minute drought as Raines added two more along with a sophomore guard Milán Bradley (Washington, D.C. / Loyola University New Orleans) jumper and made free throw from freshman guard
Ella Quince (Morrisville, PA / Morrisville HS), which cut the lead to 20. Rutgers-Newark came back to life and closed the third period ahead by 26.
The 4
th quarter saw Cairn go to battle to try to take a piece out of the Rutgers-Newark lead, as the Highlanders outscored the Scarlet Raiders 21-13 in the period. Led by freshman forward
Rachael Banks (Sturgis, SD / Sturgis Brown High School) and Raines who combined for 17 of Cairn's 21 fourth quarter points. As the lead was cut to 18, the Highlanders ran out of time.
They key to the Scarlet Raider offense was capitalizing on 25 points from Cairn's 33 turnovers and pushing the pace on the fast break. As a team, the Highlanders shot 25.7% from the floor (17-66) and 26.1 % from deep (6-23) while Rutgers-Newark shot 41% on the night (25-61) and 50% from behind the arc (6-12).
Raines was the top performer for Cairn in her collegiate debut, scoring a team-high 26 points on 50% shooting (9-18) along with a game-high 5 three-pointers made and going 3-4 from the free throw line in 37 minutes of play. Banks provided 8 points on 3-3 shooting and four boards. Bright and Hinson each scored four points on the night, Bright picking up 6 steals and 15 rebounds. Quince added four assists and six rebounds.
The Highlanders now shift their focus to their home opener on Friday night as they host the Cannoneers of Pratt Institute at 8 p.m., a part of their tip-off tournament, featuring Pratt, Bryn Athyn, and Medgar Evers, with four matchups on the docket inside the Mason Activity Center this weekend.
