It wasn’t too long ago that the Rowan women’s basketball team was on top of the world.
After dropping their first contest of the new year, the Profs would storm back and rattle off six straight victories against conference opponents that included a close 47-46 win over The College of New Jersey to take over first place.
They stood tall with a 12-7 overall record, with an even more impressive 10-2 New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) record.
Then everything started to falter.
Two shocking losses to Stockton and Montclair State put a few holes in Rowan’s sails and placed them in a precarious situation. They were now in second place, but could easily move down with three games left.
Securing the second-place bye got that much harder though with the loss against Montclair, as the Red Hawks now own the tiebreaker against Rowan if both are in a standstill come the end of the season.
Rowan’s late season struggles continued with a 46-42 loss to Rutgers-Newark this past Saturday just days after handling William Paterson.
And it’s quite simple for head coach Gabby Lisella to see what the problem is for the team.
Consistency.
“We have these stretches where we’re not getting shots to drop,” Lisella said. “Scoring four points in a quarter is not our M.O.”
Sure, the team will still make the playoffs. They can’t get any worse than a three-seed, where they currently sit. But things definitely could’ve and probably should be much different.
“We were in the drivers seat but we stumbled a bit, but we’ve put ourselves in a decent position,” Lisella said.
With one game left in the regular season against Kean University, a win would bring the Brown and Gold to 13-6 in the NJAC. Montclair, riding a four-game winning streak, will end their season hosting Rutgers-Camden. If the Red Hawks lose and Rowan wins, the Profs will clinch the second seed and a first round bye. If both teams win, the standings will stay as they are currently.
Kean, a playoff team themselves, have had quite an even year, standing at 12-12 overall and 9-8 in the NJAC. The Brown and Gold were able to handle them earlier this year on Jan. 9, 71-58.
Kean has wins against TCNJ and Montclair this year and will surely be looking to head into the conference tournament with momentum.
The two will meet in Union, New Jersey for the regular season finale at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Updates on this game will be provided after its conclusion.
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