Newark, NJ – Stockton University (8-17, 5-13 NJAC) finished the 2018-19 season on a high note by defeating Rutgers-Newark (13-12, 10-8) 59-55 in the finale. The Ospreys shot 60 percent from the floor (6-10) and scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to overtake the host Scarlet Raiders.
 
Freshman point guard Emily Donzanti (Toms River/TR South) led Stockton with a team-high 16 points plus three assists. Donzanti finished her rookie year with a school-record 131 assists. Senior April Peterson (Lafayette/High Point) scored 11 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds in her final contest. Peterson ended her career 10th in school history with 610 rebounds.
 
Madison Noordeloos (Hawthorne/Hawthorne) tallied eight points, six boards and a game-high three blocks. Noordeloos went 4-5 from the floor. Molly Collins (Lacey Twp./Donovan Catholic) sank two three-pointers and finished with eight points for the Ospreys.
 
The teams stayed close throughout the first half. Rutgers-Newark crept out to a 14-7 lead late in the first quarter before Stockton scored five points in the last 20 seconds to pull within 14-12 after a steal and three-point play by Lajerah Wright (Atlantic City/Atlantic City).
 
The Ospreys trailed 29-19 midway through the second period, but Collins sank two three-pointers and Peterson added a bucket during an 8-2 spurt that closed the gap to 31-27 at the break. Peterson sparked Stockton with nine first-half points.
 
After nipping at the heels of the Scarlet Raiders for most of the first three quarters, the Ospreys took a brief 38-37 edge on a layup by Collins in the last minute of the stanza. Rutgers-Newark responded with three free throws to go back on top 40-38 entering the fourth quarter.
 
The final stanza belonged to Stockton, which went 6-10 (60%) from the floor and 9-13 (69.2%) at the line to earn the victory. With the score tied at 46, Donzanti sank a layup that ignited a game-clinching 8-0 run that gave the Ospreys a 54-46 lead. Donzanti and Raquel Harris-Scott (Pine Hill/Overbrook) accounted for all eight markers with four apiece.
 
Rutgers-Newark made it a one-possession game at 54-51 with 1:11 to play but Noordeloos answered with a layup on the next possession and Donzanti made three of her next four free throws to seal the 59-55 triumph.
 
Stockton finished with eight wins under first-year head coach Devin Jefferson. Jefferson assumed her role, her first as a college head coach, at the start of July and helmed a young squad that had seven newcomers and just one senior in Peterson.