WAYNE, N.J. – A poor shooting night for the William Paterson women's basketball (6-7, 3-3 NJAC) team proved costly as the Pioneers dropped a New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) matchup to The College of New Jersey (9-3, 4-1 NJAC), 72-46 Jan. 3.
As a team, WP shot just 33 (16-48) percent from the field, including two periods under 25 percent. The poor offensive performance allowed TCNJ to jump out to an early lead, and the Orange and Black were unable to recover. The Lions led wire-to-wire, and the Pioneers could only cut the deficit to single-digits once (33-24) in the second half.
Freshman Brianna Brooks dropped a career-best 14 points on 6-of-10 (.600) shooting, shattering her previous high of six points. Senior Tori Woetzel also chipped in a double-digit scoring effort, netting 12 points on 4-of-7 (.571) shooting. Shannon Devitt scored a team-best 16 points for TCNJ on an impressive 7-of-11 (.636) shooting performance.
It was a tough start for both teams, with the game's first bucket coming nearly three minutes into the contest when Nikki Schott dropped in a layup for TCNJ. The Pioneers finally got on the scoreboard at the 4:30 mark of the opening quarter when junior Julie Rovito knocked down a jump shot from the left elbow, but it was just one of three field goals for WP in the opening quarter.
After trailing 33-19 at the half, junior Ashley Castillo drilled a three-pointer and Brooks added a layup on the following possession to make it 33-24, but TCNJ responded with 13 of the next 18 points to push the lead back up to 17 (46-29). A three-pointer and two free-throws by Woetzel appeared to have given WP some momentum at the end of the third period, but TCNJ countered with a nine-point burst to put the game out of reach (60-38, 7:12 4th).
The Pioneers return to action on Saturday, Jan. 6, when the team travels to Rutgers-Newark for a 6:00 p.m. matchup with the Scarlet Raiders.
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