Lincroft, NJ, January, 13 2021 – After a tightly contested first quarter, the Monroe Express women's basketball team cranked up the energy and outscored Brookdale C.C. 66-19 in the following three quarters en route to an 82-33 victory Thursday evening at Robert J. Collins Arena in Lincroft, New Jersey. The Express's second straight win of the New Year moves their record to 11-1.
 
Three players scored in double figures for the Express, paced by freshman Nyeira Spady (New Rochelle, New York), who registered her team-leading fourth double-double with a game-high 18 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomores Ramatoulaye Diallo (Brooklyn, New York) and Mariame Gueye (Harlem, New York) posted career-highs with 16 and 10 points. Diallo also added to her career night, knocking down six three-pointers and just missed her first career double-double by one rebound, hauling down nine in the contest to go along with three steals. 
 
Freshman Shashauna Ballantyne (Brooklyn, New York) grabbed a season-high six steals and tied a game-high with sophomore Tariah Bryant (Brooklyn, New York) with five assists apiece. Bryant chipped in with eight points and two steals while freshman Fatima Thompson (Bronx, New York) and sophomore Kryshana Levy (Bronx, New York) hauled down eight rebounds.
 
The Express set four new season-highs offensively, shooting 76.5% from the free-throw line and knocking down nine three-pointers.
 
Their stifling defense also set season-highs in field goals allowed (9-for-66 FG) and field goal percentage (13.6% FG) while frustrating Brookdale Community College and holding them to single digits in the third and fourth quarter with all night. Monroe-Bronx also held Brookdale to single digits in the third quarter with four points and the fourth quarter with five points and recorded their second 60 plus rebounding effort of the season with 61 rebounds, outrebounding Brookdale by a 27 rebound margin. The Express also forced 20 or more turnovers for the tenth time in 12 games and snagged 14 steals.
 
The Express faced a stiff challenge from Brookdale in the first quarter. After flying out to a quick 9-2 lead capped off by a Diallo three-pointer at 7:20, the Jersey Blues put up five straight points to cut the deficit to two, 9-7 on a Jada Rogers trey at 6:24. Diallo ripped cord with her second three-pointer of the quarter to extend the lead back to five, 12-7 at the 5:56 mark, then Brookdale scored four consecutive points to trim the deficit down to one, 12-11 on a Rha-khia Mack layup at 3:19 and on a pair of made free-throws from Carissa Reyes. Monroe-Bronx rang up the next four points on Fastbreak layins from Bryant at 1:25 and Taina Maldonado (New York, New York) with 59 seconds remaining. Then the Jersey Blues got the deficit down to two, 16-14, to close out the first quarter, with Carissa Reyes going two-for-two at the charity stripe, and Jade Rogers going 1-for-2.
 
Brookdale tied it up at 16 on a Jasmine Sullivan offensive rebound and layup at the 9:34 mark but never got any closer as the Express finally took control, constructing a 14-1 run to build their lead to 14, 30-17 on a Thompson put back off of an offensive rebound at the 6:39 mark. The Express built the lead to their largest of the first half, 18, 40-22 on Diallo's third trey of the first half at 1:15 and took it into halftime with a 40-24 lead.
 
The Express dominated the second half outscoring Brookdale 24-4 in the third quarter and 18-5 in the fourth quarter building the lead to as large as 50, 82-32 at 1:18 of the final stanza on a layin from Christina Reilly (Bronx, New York) and closed it out with an 82-33 victory.
 
Jada Rogers led Brookdale Community College in scoring with 10 points, and Rha-khia Mack led the rebounding effort with a game-high 13 rebounds and a team-high five steals.
 
The Express women's basketball team has won two straight and heading into the Monroe College Martin Luther King Classic and faces a major challenge Saturday, January 15, against No. 13 ranked and undefeated Sullivan County Community College at noon at the Monroe Athletic Complex. For more information, visit the Monroe Express Women's Basketball Schedule Page.
 
 
 ABOUT THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM AT MONROE COLLEGE
The athletic program at Monroe College encompasses a total of 36 teams competing across nine sports. There are 19 varsity and junior varsity programs, as well as club men's and women's rugby, the Monroe College marching band, and the newly added esports program, competing on the New Rochelle campus as the Mustangs (NJCAA Division I). The Monroe Express, based out of the Bronx campus, has 17 teams competing at the NJCAA Division III level.
 
For more information about the Monroe Express, please visit us at www.MonroeExpress.com or follow us on social media: Facebook (Monroe Express), Twitter (@MonroeExpress), and Instagram (@MonroeExpress).