Mahwah, NJ:  Jackie Rodriguez and Brittany Harden led the William Paterson Pioneers to a 74-57 victory over the Roadrunners of Ramapo College tonight in a New Jersey Athletic Conference women's basketball match-up at the Bradley Center.  The Pioneers jump out to a 2-0 conference season with the road victory, improving to 4-1 overall.  Ramapo falls to 3-2 overall and 0-2 in conference play.
 
Rodriguez and Harden each collected 14 points on the night to lead the Pioneers to their second conference win of the season.  Alex Milne grabbed a team-high 11 boards and Mary Haines collected 11 of her own with ten points for the double-double.  Harden dished out five assists and grabbed three steals in the win.  The Pioneers went 29-78 (37%) as a team, hitting 3-8 from behind the arc, all three three-pointers coming from Rodriguez.  WPU out rebounded Ramapo 58-42, and caused 23 Ramapo turnovers on the night.
 
For the first four-plus minutes in the game, the two teams traded baskets until the front-end of a two-shot foul fell through from Ramapo's Jina Crawford, to tie the game for the third time, 5-5, with 15:13 on the clock.  The Pioneers climbed to a three-point (12-9) advantage with a jump shot from Milne just over two minutes later, before Ramapo cut it to one-point with a two-point goal from Kellie Lane.  The Pioneers strung together five straight points to take a 17-11 lead with 10:24 to play, and two free throws from Kerri Kosakowski snapped the run to put Ramapo within four, 17-13.  It wasn't enough as William Paterson spread their lead to 25-13 with a long three-pointer from Rodriguez.  Ramapo answered back with a 7-0 run to cut the spread to 20-25, capped off with a basket from Kosakowski, but the Pioneers answered back again to climb to a 31-22 lead with 3:48 to go in the half, off a jump shot from Maya Harris.  Rodriguez would hit a three-pointer with 1:17 on the clock to go ahead 38-25, but Jackie Jerkovich responded with a jump shot to close the gap, 27-38, and after a turnover with four seconds on the clock, Jerkovich ran the full length of the floor and drained a three at the buzzer to head into the locker room with William Paterson leading 38-30.  William Paterson shot 15-44 (34%) as a team as Rodriguez led the way with 13 points, including three three-pointers.  Lane led the Roadrunners with ten points as the team went 11-30 (37%) in the half. 
 
William Paterson scored the first six points of the second half to jump ahead, 44-30, before Lane got the Roadrunners on the board at 18:08 with a two point goal, 32-44.  Over the next four minutes of play, the Pioneers would work their way to a 48-34, 14-point lead, after Harden swooshed through a jump shot for WPU.  For the remainder of the half, the Pioneers would stay on top of Ramapo, working their way to their biggest lead of 17 on four separate occasions, the first coming at 9:33 on a free throw from Rodriguez, and the final time coming at the conclusion of the game with a basket from Ashley Marfo.  Harden sank 12 second half points to lead the Pioneers as they shot 14-34 (41%).  Ramapo collected seven field goals on 24 attempts hitting 29% from the floor. 
 
Lane led Ramapo with 15 points and Bintou Berete chipped in 13, as the Roadrunners shot a combined 18-54 (33%).  Berete collected a team-high 11 rebounds for the double-double and Jerkovich collected a team-high six assists.

The Roadrunners return to action on Wednesday, December 3rd when they travel to NJAC rival Kean University for a 6:00pm tip in Union.