–By Ike Ejikeme– 

With only five games remaining on the schedule, NJCU’s women’s basketball team (7-13), is being led into the final stretch of the season by senior center Alnisa Hernaiz, criminal justice major from Irvington, junior point guard Ashley Vazquez, political science major and criminal justice minor from Jersey City, and sophomore forward Deseree Johnson, criminal justice major from Red Bank.

It has been a tough season thus far, but they have shown that they are a much improved squad from last season.

Currently ranked eighth place in the New Jersey Athletics Conference, the women’s basketball team will need to win all of their remaining games in order to climb up to sixth place and earn a playoff berth. The Gothic Knights are 4-9 in conference play which is already an improvement from their 2-14 record within the conference a year ago.

The 2013-2014 women’s basketball team is confident group who feel like they have the talent to make the playoffs. They believe they need to simply “buckle-down,” and want to make a statement with each game.

Last weekend, led by Vazquez’s career high 23 points, the women’s basketball team swept a season series from rival Rowan University for the first time in 25 years. At this time last year, NJCU had a record of 5-15, whereas this year they are currently 7-13, with a month of basketball left to play. Jazz Randall, freshman biology major from West Orange, has become a role player on the team, which is more than what she expected from her first season.

“With my first year of basketball almost over, I’ve learned how to be a positive addition to my team on the floor and on the bench. But most importantly, I’ve learned that I have a lot to learn and I can only get better as a player.” said Randall.

Currently averaging 15.4 minutes a game, Randall hopes to help the women’s basketball team to make a push for the playoffs in this final month of the regular season..

With the addition of freshman forward Bria Smith, biology major from Bayonne, who has won NJAC Rookie of the Week honors five times this season, the team looks to have a promising and bright future.

Looking forward to next season, the team says they will continue to work on their individual skills and hope to remain a close squad. Though they will be losing senior captain Hernaiz after this season, it’ll be up to captains Vaquez and Johnson to lead the team into next season, and for reserves to play larger roles for the team.

The rest of the women’s basketball team’s schedule are against conference opponents, which gives them the opportunity to win-out and earn a bid in the NJAC tourney.