WAYNE, N.J. – Senior all-Americans April Smith (Barnegat, N.J./Southern Regional) and BriAnna Lucas (Hamilton, N.J./Nottingham) combined for 41 points to help lead No. 4/6 William Paterson (7-0, 2-0 NJAC) to a 71-53 women's basketball victory against The College of New Jersey (4-3, 1-1 NJAC) Dec. 3 at the Rec Center.

Smith was 9-for-11 (.818) from the floor for her game-high 22 points, adding nine rebounds, three assists and a career-best seven steals.  Lucas scored 16 of her 19 points during the second half, chipping in five boards, four assists and four steals.  Junior guard Lindsey Callander (Branchburg, N.J./Somerville) had eight tallies and four assists, sophomore guard Floriana Borova (Cresskill, N.J./Cresskill) posted seven points and four assists, and sophomore forward Dana Jeter (Hamilton, N.J./Steinert) contributed seven tallies and nine rebounds.

Ahead by a 28-26 count at the break, TCNJ scored seven of the first nine points of the second period to lead, 35-28, with 16:16 to play.  Jessica Imhof's three-pointer handed the Lions a 45-37 advantage at the 13:06 mark, but the Pioneers answered with a Callander trey (45-40, 12:51), and after a 1-for-2 trip to the charity stripe by Candace Vigo (46-40, 12:27), Jeter knocked down a jumper (46-42, 12:12).  A Borova steal led to a Lucas three-pointer to pull WP within one (46-45, 11:33), and Lucas' drive to the rim and one nudged William Paterson ahead (48-46, 10:55).  The Pioneers never looked back, scoring nine more unanswered points to finish off a 17-0 run that made it a 57-46 margin with 7:16 remaining.

After shooting just 30.3 (10-33) percent during the first period, WP was 19-for-32 (.594) following halftime.  The Pioneers caused 26 Lion turnovers, and out-scored TCNJ 40-22 in the paint.

Imhof led The College of New Jersey with 12 points.  Vigo added 10 tallies and a team-best eight rebounds, and sophomore Tiffany DeTulio chipped in nine points and six boards.

Both offenses were slowed by early poor shooting from the field, combining to miss the first eight attempts of the contest.  Back-to-back buckets by Smith and Borova gave WP a 9-4 edge 5:13 into the game, but six unanswered points by the Lions, the last a fast-break layup by DeTulio, later handed TCNJ its largest lead of the half at 18-12 with 7:09 remaining.

A Smith layup got William Paterson within two (20-18, 4:55), and a Borova steal as the shot clock was about to expire and quick basket the other way evened the score at 20-20 with 3:44 on the clock.  WP three times took a two-point lead during the next two minutes, but Imhof's transition bucket during the final 30 seconds allowed TCNJ to take a 28-26 lead into the break.  

William Paterson will host Juniata Saturday, Dec. 10, at 1:00 p.m.