Women's Basketball Season Comes To A Close

North Branch, NJ - The RVCC Women's Basketball Team's season came to a close on Tuesday night with an 80-62 loss to Mercer County Community College. This is the second year in a row the Lions have made the playoffs. Last year they lost 64-57 to Harcum College in the Semi-Final round. 

After a very close first half that saw the Lions take a 31-30 advantage into the break, the third quarter proved to be pivotal for the visiting Vikings. The Lions allowed Mercer to score 28 points in the period as the visitors created an insurmountable lead. In the fourth quarter the Lions were down 17 points with just over 5 minutes to play and put together the beginning stages of a comeback. Ona Riopedre started the push with a steal and score, followed up by two consecutive threes to force Mercer into a timeout with the lead cut to just 9 points. However, the Lions couldn't find ways to string together enough stops to keep the comeback alive. Riopedre led all Lions in scoring and rebounding with 16 points and 8 rebounds. The freshman from Barcelona has had a very promising first year in Branchburg. She will look to build off this year's success with fellow freshman Elizabeth May (11 points), Sophia Larsen (9 points), and Paula Aguilera Ortega (7 points). Sophomores Judith Vila and Julia Fontanillo played in their last games in Raritan uniforms. Vila registered 3 points while Fontanillo scored 12, had a team high 3 assists and was second on the team with 6 rebounds and 1 steal. 

The Lions finish their season with an overall record of 18-11 while going 11-5 in Region XIX play. The team had a successful 2024-2025 season, following arguably the best team in program history, just one year earlier. This season the Lions were once again able to knock off a ranked opponent when they defeated #17 ranked Harcum at home in January. For the first time in program history the team was able to defeat the Monroe University Mustangs and also pushed their win streak against Lackawanna College to three games. The Lions finished in fourth place in the Region XIX regular season standings and second in the Garden State Athletic Conference.