By CHRIS CHRISTOPHER
It didn’t take Marajiah Bacon long to emerge as one of the nation’s top women’s basketball players.
The Kean University 5-foot-3 freshman guard out of Neptune High School made the 2016 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association NCAA Division III All-America honorable mention team.
She was the lone freshman selected among the 40 players recognized in both the first-team and honorable mention categories. She is the first Cougar named to the squad since the 2011-12 season.
Bacon was recently named the D3hoops.com Atlantic Region Rookie of the Year as well as being named a second-team member of the Atlantic squad. She also was tabbed as the New Jersey Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year and a first-team all-conference selection.
A 12-time NJAC Rookie of the Week and a 10-time ECAC-Metro Rookie of the Week honoree, Bacon was the league leader in conference-only scoring, averaging 23.5 points per game. She also ranked second in conference-only steals (3.1 per game) and third in conference only free throw percentage (.809).
She led Division III in points per game (24.7) and was fourth in field goals made (238. She was 38th in free throws made (126) and 47th in minutes played per game (36.9 per game).
The former Scarlet Fliers standout buried 126 of 164 free throws overall for .768 percent. She put home 238 of 599 field goal attempts overall for .397 percent. She canned 41 of 160 shots from downtown overall for .256 percent. She averaged 3.6 rebounds per game. She was second on the Cougars in overall assists (69), overall steals (71) and overall blocks (12) and made 63 turnovers on the season.
Bacon appeared in 26 games and started 24.
Dominican College freshman outfielder Anthony Bartolomei (Ocean Township) continues to sting the baseball.
Through his first 13 games of the season, the former Spartans standout batted .368, stroking 14 hits in 38 at-bats. Among his hits were four doubles and one triple. He drove in six runs and scored five. He drew four walks and struck out four times. He posted a .455 on-base percentage and a .526 slugging percentage.
He fielded .750. He registered eight putouts, one assist and three errors in 12 total chances. He stole one base in one attempt.
Bartolomei helped Dominican past Concordia College 2-1, hitting a two-out RBI single to left field for a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning as the designated hitter.
