WAYNE, N.J. – Freshman guard Gabby Harris (South River, N.J./South River) led five Pioneers in double figures with 23 points as the William Paterson women's basketball team (11-7, 6-5 NJAC) registered a 90-81 wire-to-wire victory against visiting Rowan (13-5, 7-4 NJAC) Jan. 21.
WP scored 13 of the game's first 15 points and owned a 17-12 advantage at the end of the first period. The Profs were able to level the score at 24-24 on an Alex Raring layup at the 5:01 mark of the second quarter, but the Pioneers used a 15-7 run to create a 45-34 halftime margin.
Rowan got as close as three at 76-73 with 2:47 to play, but back-to-back jumpers by freshman guard/forward Alliera McCoy (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway) and Harris pushed the WP lead to 80-73 with 1:34 on the clock, and William Paterson made all 10 of its free-throw attempts during the last 38 seconds to put an end to any potential Prof comeback hopes.
Harris added five rebounds to her 23 tallies, while McCoy collected her first career double-double with 10 points and a game-best 10 rebounds. Junior forward Tori Woetzel (Wyckoff, N.J./Ramapo) had 14 tallies and seven boards, freshman guard Kristina Ulrich (Secaucus, N.J./Secaucus) scored 13 points, and senior guard Nikole Williams (Valley Stream, N.Y./Valley Stream Central) added 12 tallies.
Senior guard Anyssa Sanchez led Rowan with 24 points, while junior guard Summer Crilley posted 19 tallies and seven rebounds.
WP shot 50.9 (27-53) percent from the floor and 85.7 (30-35) percent from the free-throw line compared to the Profs' .360 (27-75) and .778 (21-27) efforts. The 90 points were the most for the Pioneers since a 91-83 overtime win at Kean in the first round of the 2016 New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Tournament (2/20/16), and the most in regulation since a 95-64 triumph against Rowan on Dec. 11, 2013.
William Paterson will visit New Jersey City Wednesday, Jan. 25, at 6:00 p.m.
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