NEWARK, N.J. (December 5, 2016) – The FDU women's basketball team topped in-state rival Rutgers Newark 70-57 Monday night.

The Devils move to 4-2, while RU-N falls to 1-6.

Rutgers-Newark used a pair of threes from Maria Simmons and Faith Ashby to build three point leads in the first quarter, but freshman Kendrea Williams connected with a layup and converted the free throw to even the score at 17. The hosts would tally four of the final six points to head into the second with a two-point lead.

FDU began the second with five straight tallies, but Louise Ann Borja hit a three to tie the contest at 24. The Devils, who got 16 points and seven rebounds from senior Alyssa Mcdonough, scored eight of the final 11 points of the first half, leading by seven going into the break.

Neither team was able to change the gap much in the third, but freshman Jennah Roman drilled a layup with 2:54 left to give the visitors their biggest lead of the evening at 11 points. The staunch Devils defending limited RU-N to just two baskets over the final 5:36 of the third.

The Scarlet Raiders llimited FDU to no points over the first 6:10 of the fourth quarter, but only managed two field goals of their own over the same span to cut the Devils lead down to eight at 57-49. The Devils scored the next eight, with Williams and senior Rachel Groom each converting a pair of layups.

A pair of treys by RU-N brought the game down to eight with a minute left, but Williams hit four from the charity stripe to reestablish the double-digit lead.

Mcdonough finished with 21 points and 16 boards, while Williams also punched in 21 points. Groom hauled in 10 rebounds to go along with 17 points.

The Devils will be back home tomorrow evening, taking on Drew at 6 p.m.