The teams battled on even terms throughout the first half as the squads changed leads seven times and were tied six time. King's trailed 24-22 but Katlin Michaels knotted the score on a short jumper with 2;29 left in the first half. Two possessions later Paige Carlin gave the Lady Monarchs a 26-24 lead after making a pair of foul shots with 1:08 on the clock.  Rutgers-Newark cut the lead to 26-25 at the half when Kristen Venning made one-of-two foul shots with 0:45 remaining.

In the second half Rutgers-Newark came out of the locker room and scored the first six points to take a 31-26 lead. The Lady Monarchs answered with a bucket down low from Julianna Lynott and a three-pointer from Muscatell to tie the score at 31-31.  The Lady Monarchs would eventually stretch the advantage to 41-33 on another three-pointer by Muscatell, a lay-up from Kayla Dick, a traditional three-point play from Muscatell, and two foul shots by Lynott with 12:07 remaining. Later, a driving lay-up from Michaels extended the King's lead to 45-36 with 9:05 on the clock

The Scarlet Raiders, however, answered with a 15-6 run over the next 6:27 to take a 52-51 lead with 2:38 left in the contest. But King's was ignited by an Abby Malloy three-pointer and a jumper from Megan Rigous to take a 56-52 lead with 1:02 remaining.

After a Rutgers-Newark turnover, Muscatell was fouled with 0:26 on the clock and made both free throws. Following a Scarlet Raider miss, Muscatell was again fouled and converted both charity tosses to up the Lady Monarch advantage to 60-52 with 0:15 to play.

Following an uncontested Rutgers-Newark lay-up with 0:08 on the clock, Muscatell was again fouled, this time with 0:07 to play, and calmly made both shots, her sixth in a row over the final 0:26, to seal the victory.

Muscatell finished the game with 17 points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field and  a 9-of-12 effort from the foul line. She also added five rebounds and four assists on the night. Carlin, Michaels, and Lynott contributed seven points each while Rigous chipped in with six points.

Martyna Ruminska led Rutgers-Newark with 22 points while Jared Tactuk chipped in with 14.

King's will now play Marymount Saturday at 5:00 p.m. in a winner's bracket game. The host school routed North Carolina Wesleyan 93-38 in another first-round pairing.
 

KING'S COLLEGE 62, RUTGERS-NEWARK 54

RUTGERS-NEWARK
Martyna Ruminska 7-18 4-4 22; Jared Tactuk 5-17 2-3 14; Samantha Grippo 4-7 0-0 8; Courtney Vacca 3-7 1-1 7; Kristen Venning 1-5 1-4 3; Shatanay McCaskill 0-3 0-0 0; Cathylee Philippe 0-0 0-0 0; Keira Williams 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 20-60 8-12 54.

KING'S COLLEGE
Brittany Muscatell 3-6 9-12 17; Katlin Michaels 3-10 0-0 7; Paige Carlin 2-9 3-5 7; Julianna Lynott 2-4 3-3 7; Megan Rigous 2-7 2-2 6; Kayla Dick 2-4 0-0 4; Lindsay Atchison 2-4 0-0 4; Celia Rader 1-3 0-0 3; Abby Malloy 1-2 0-0 3; Molly Dahl 1-1 0-0 2; Elizabeth Demko 1-2 0-0 2; Nina Magan 0-2 0-0 0; Morgan Thomas 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-54 17-22 62.

Rutgers-Newark................   25   29  -   54
King's College...................   26   36  -   62

3-point goals--Rutgers-Newark 6-25 (Martyna Ruminska 4-11; Jared Tactuk 2-10; Kristen Venning 0-2; Samantha Grippo 0-2), King's College 5-14 (Brittany Muscatell 2-3; Katlin Michaels 1-2; Abby Malloy 1-1; Celia Rader 1-2; Kayla Dick 0-1; Lindsay Atchison 0-1; Nina Magan 0-1; Megan Rigous 0-2; Paige Carlin 0-1). Fouled out--Rutgers-Newark-Jared Tactuk, King's College-None. Rebounds--Rutgers-Newark 39 (Courtney Vacca 12), King's College 41 (Julianna Lynott 7). Assists--Rutgers-Newark 7 (Kristen Venning 4), King's College 10 (Brittany Muscatell 4). Total fouls--Rutgers-Newark 20, King's College 13. Technical fouls--Rutgers-Newark-None, King's College-None.

Marymount Marine Tip-Off Tournament