AMHERST, Mass. – Senior captain Dani Valdez tallied 19 points and 11 rebounds and first-year Kori Barach hit three huge three-pointers in the fourth quarter as the Amherst College women's basketball team rallied from a nine-point deficit to earn a 56-52 win over New Jersey City University in a back-and-forth battle on Monday evening at LeFrak Gymnasium.

The Mammoths, ranked 11th in the nation in the latest D3hoops.com poll and 10th in the WBCA Coaches Poll, conclude the regular season at 18-2 with their ninth straight win and are assured of finishing the season with four losses or fewer for the 14th consecutive season, every season in Head Coach G.P. Gromacki's tenure. The Gothic Knights fall to 9-9 with one game left in their regular season.

The Mammoths enter the NESCAC Tournament as the third seed and will host a quarterfinal matchup on Sunday (Feb. 20) at 2 p.m. against the winner of Friday's first-round game between 6th-seeded Bowdoin and 11th-seeded Colby.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

* The Mammoths jumped out to an early 6-2 lead but a spurt of eight unanswered points swung the lead to the Gothic Knights and NJCU was up 14-12 after a first quarter in which the Gothic Knights held Amherst to 4-of-18 shooting from the floor.

* Valdez hit a jumper from the top of the key to tie the game at 16-16 early in the second quarter but the Gothic Knights followed with six unanswered points to kick off a 12-3 run that gave NJCU its largest lead of the game, a 28-19 lead with just under two minutes to go in the second quarter.

* The Mammoths scored the last seven points of the second quarter to close the gap to two and enter halftime with the Gothic Knights leading, 28-26.

* Valdez tied the game again early in the third with a steal in the backcourt that she turned into a quick layup. After the Gothic Knights responded with a three from sophomore captain Damaris Rodriguez, the Mammoths kept it close until Valdez put Amherst on top with a layup off an inbound pass from first-year guard AnLing Vera.

* The Gothic Knights went back up by five but Amherst rallied again with back-to-back threes from senior captain Gabrielle Zaffiro and Barach. Another spurt put NJCU up by six but the Mammoths held the Gothic Knights off the scoreboard from there and hit their next three shots, all three-pointers from Barach, Vera to tie and Barach again to take the lead at 55-52 with less than two minutes remaining.



BY THE NUMBERS

* Valdez recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

* Barach tallied a career-high 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the floor and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, with all of her three-pointers coming in the fourth quarter.

* The Mammoths were held to 28 percent (19-of-68) shooting in the game, including 22 percent (8-of-27) in the first half before improving to 35 percent (11-of-31) in the second half. Amherst's shooting woes were offset by a 51-39 advantage in rebounds, including 24 offensive rebounds that led to 26 second-chance points. In the first quarter, Amherst had more offensive rebounds (8) than NJCU defensive rebounds (6).

* Amherst was held without a three-pointer for the first half and hit only one in the third quarter, entering the fourth at 1-of-14 from beyond the arc, but the Mammoths found their shooting touch and went 5-for-5 on three-pointers in the fourth quarter with every Amherst field goal coming from beyond the arc in the final frame.

* Rodriguez scored a game-high 21 points and dished 5 assists to lead the Gothic Knights.