Union, N.J. (2/22/14) – The Kean University women's basketball team stormed to a second half dominance to pull away from Richard Stockton College, 79-53, Saturday evening in NJAC First Round action.

With the win, the #4 Cougars will now travel to the top seeded Red Hawks of Montclair State University on Tuesday evening for a 7 p.m. tip-off.  Richard Stockton finished the 2013-14 campaign with a 12-14 mark.

In a tight postseason matchup, it was the Ospreys who seemed to gain momentum late in the first half turning a 22-22 tie into a 31-22 lead as junior Cara Parliament hit back-to-back layups followed by a trey from rookie Taylor Christina, forcing the Cougars to call timeout.  After pushing the run to 9-0 with a bucket from junior Lauren Alwan, junior Shay Collins provided one of her four three-pointers of the night to break the streak.  Christina answered right back with a three of her own, but it was the Cougars' turn with an 11-0 run over the next three minutes that gave Kean back the lead at 35-34.  Four different starters contributed in the run.  After some physicality and free throws, it was Stockton with a slim one-point advantage at the intermission, 38-37.

Senior Simone Smith provided 12 points and eight rebounds while playing 16 minutes in the first half, while juniors AnnaRose Pierre and Jazmine Davis each added nine.  For the Ospreys, junior Alex Nardoza led the squad with nine points, while playing all 20 minutes.

Smith tallied the first layup of the second half, giving Kean a 39-38 lead, a lead they would not relinquish for the remainder of the game.  Ahead by just three with 10 minutes to go in the game, the Cougars scored eight quick points in a two minute span to push that advantage out to double-digits for the first time.  The quick burst started with a lay-in and one from Davis, and ended with a trey from junior Essence Casey.  Kean clearly kept the momentum from this point forward, forcing tough Stockton shots on defense (20% in the second half) as Stockton was only able to score 15 points in the final 20 minutes.

Pierre led all players with 18 points as four Cougars finished with double-digit totals as Smith tallied a double-double (16 & 11), Davis a double-double (14 & 11) and Collins who picked up 14.  Alwan and junior Sara Farrell both ended the night with 14 points apiece for Stockton in the loss.