Krystal Jankowski will serve as one of the Lady Raptors’ four captains this season as she wraps up her stellar four-year basketball career at Rutgers-Camden.
Jankowski enters her senior campaign with career totals of 530 points, 488 rebounds (eighth on the all-time list), 215 assists (sixth) and 142 steals (tied for 10th). She is within 58 steals of becoming the fifth player in program history to reach 200 for her career, within 12 rebounds of becoming the eighth player to 500 boards and within 85 assists of cracking the 300-barrier in that category, which would make her only the fourth Lady Raptor to his that milestone.
During her junior campaign, Jankowski led the team with an 8.8 rebounding average and 83 assists, while finishing second in steals (48) and fifth in scoring (7.2 ppg). She finished among the New Jersey Athletic Conference leaders in rebounding (fifth, 8.8), assists (fourth, 3.32) and steals (11th, 1.92) per game, was third in offensive rebounds (3.60), seventh in defensive rebounds (5.20), fifth in assist/turnover ratio (0.75) and sixth in minutes per game (32.36).
Jankowski was a force from the start. Her layup with 3:22 remaining in the season opener gave Rutgers-Camden the lead for good as the Lady Raptors edged Washington College, 53-52, at the James P. Richardson Memorial Tip-Off Tournament at Lincoln University (Nov. 17). She ended up earning all-tournament team honors at the event, hauling down 11 rebounds in each game while adding three assists, two steals and six points.
Jankowski scored a career-high 21 points at Valley Forge Christian College Nov. 21, sparking the Lady Raptors to an 83-24 win. She went 9-for-15 from the floor and added seven rebounds, three assists and five steals. That big game helped her earn honors Nov. 27 as Rutgers-Camden’s Raptor of the Week.
Jankowski’s biggest game came Jan. 10, 2007 at Rowan University when she sparked the Raptors to a 74-67 win by collecting a triple-double. She notched 16 points, 10 rebounds and tied her career high of 11 assists – a total she first set against Rowan on Jan. 25, 2006. Her two 11-assist games are tied for the third-best single-game totals in program history, three shy of Karla Robinson’s record 14, set against St. Elizabeth on Feb. 3, 1992.
Later in the season, Jankowski notched a double-double in a 69-60 win over Ramapo College (Jan. 27). She scored 10 points and added a short-lived career high of 19 rebounds. It didn’t take long to shatter that rebounding high as she pulled down 21 boards at Gwynedd-Mercy College (Feb. 12). That production tied for the 17th-highest single-game rebounding total in program history.
Overall, Jankowski hit double figures in scoring five times and in rebounding 10 times, in addition to her double-figure total of 11 assists.
During her sophomore season in 2005-06, Jankowski led the team in assists (96), finished second in steals (61) and rebounding (6.8 rpg), and placed third in scoring (8.7 ppg). Among the NJAC leaders she was 22nd in scoring, 10th in rebounding, fourth in steals and tied for third in assists. She also ranked 98th nationally in Division III in assists per game (4.0) and barely missed joining the only six players in program history to record 100 or more assists in one season.
Jankowski hit double figures in scoring on 11 occasions during her sophomore year, including her old career high of 20 points, scored against St. Mary’s College (Dec. 5, 2005). She went 5-for-11 from the floor and 9-for-13 from the foul line. She also scored 18 points at Goucher College (Jan. 2, 2006).
Jankowski’s 15-rebound game at Valley Forge Christian (Nov. 28, 2005) was her career high in that category at the time. Coupled with her 12 points that night, it proved to be one of her two double-doubles on the season. She also had a double-double with 12 points and a career-high 11 assists against Rowan University Jan. 25.
On the heels of her 15-rebound game, Jankowski added 14 boards at Rowan University Nov. 30. She also hit double figures with a 10-rebound game against New Jersey City Feb. 15.
Jankowski made an impressive collegiate debut during the 2004-05 season, averaging 7.9 points and 5.8 rebounds. She collected 33 steals and 36 assists, despite missing seven games midway through the season with an ankle injury. She played in 18 games for the Lady Raptors, starting 13.
Jankowski notched seven points, nine rebounds one steal and two assists in her first collegiate game, playing against Houghton College (Nov. 19, 2004) in the Wingate Invitational at Messiah College. She made her first career start at Montclair State (Nov. 29), scoring eight points, collecting two assists and one steal, and grabbing her old career-high of 11 rebounds.
In her next game, against Rowan (Dec. 1), Jankowski had six steals and added 10 points for her first double-digit game in scoring. That sparked a streak of three straight games scoring in double digits, ending with a 15-point, nine-rebound performance against Goucher College (Dec. 6).
Jankowski was enjoying her finest game as a freshman at Cabrini College (Dec. 14) when she suffered an ankle injury following a layup late in the game. She shot 6-for-8 from the floor, including 1-for-1 from three-point range, and hit four of her five foul shots. She finished with her first collegiate double-double, collecting 10 rebounds and 17 points (at the time a career high), but the injury left her sidelined until late January. That performance helped Jankowski win the school’s Raptor of the Week award for Dec. 20, 2004.
Jankowski had eight points, seven rebounds, two steals and three assists in her return to action at Rowan (Jan. 26). She started six of the remaining seven games in the Lady Raptors’ 2004-05 season, including a 15-point, seven-rebound performance at Rutgers-Newark (Jan. 31) and a 10-point game against Montclair State (Feb. 5).
Jankowski, played four years of scholastic basketball at Sterling High School, where she earned the team’s defensive MVP honor. A Criminal Justice Major at Rutgers-Camden, Krystal is the daughter of John Jankowski and Lucia Cella of Somerdale.
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