Box Score

Ewing, NJ… The College of New Jersey women's basketball team hosted the Pioneers of William Paterson University on Saturday afternoon in Packer Hall By game's end, TCNJ would tally the 69-65 victory as the Lions' senior center Hillary Klimowicz (Scotch Plains, NJ/Scotch Plains-Fanwood) set a school record hitting for 35 points with 22 rebounds in the contest.

TCNJ would collect the win and improve to 14-3 overall and 6-1 in the NJAC having won 11 straight games, while William Paterson University drops to 14-5 overall and is now also 6-1 in the NJAC. The win puts TCNJ at 7-0 at home this season, while the loss snaps, WPU's five-game win streak.

TCNJ would take a 35-23 lead into the locker room as half while Klimowicz added a double-double in the first stanza of play having added 16 points and 12 boards. WPU would pull within one point, down 21-20 with 6:24 left to play before the Lions would go on a 7-0 run over the next minute and would pull away, eventually taking a 35-23 lead at the break. The double-double was the 34th of her career and by game's end, Klimowicz would net 35 points and 22 rebounds, both career-highs. On her career at TCNJ, she has now tallied 1,078 points, good enough for the No. 11 spot on the Lions' all-time scoring list. Her 35 points broke a school record set in 1987-88 twice by former Lion All-American, Kimm Lacken with 33 points. Klimowicz had tied the 33 points earlier this season in December.

TCNJ would hold the Pioneers to just 25.0% shooting from the floor (9-36) with a 20.0% effort from three-point range (2-10). The Pioneers would turn over the ball 13 times, while also forcing 13 Lion turnovers. TCNJ would capitalize on 26 points in the paint as well.

For the Pioneers they were lead in the first half by sophomore April Smith (Barnegat, NJ/Southern Regional) with seven points, while sophomore forward Absatu Mustapha (Somerset, NJ/Franklin) added six first-half points.

WPU came out at the break and went on a 12-4 run and would pull within four points with 17:30 left (39-35) before they would take the one-point at 14:46 when Smith would hit two free throws, giving her team a 43-43 lead. The Pioneers would watch their lead grow as Smith would hit a jumper at 12:09 and then the team capitalized on a Lion miscue and were up 49-44 with 11:13 left to play. WPU's junior guard Julie Haledjian (Montvale, NJ/Pascack Hills) would hit a pair of key treys and the Pioneers owned a 52-46 lead before senior guard Alyssa Michella (Washington Twp., NJ/Immaculate Heart Acamdey) hit a trey for the TCNJ with 9:15 left (52-49).

With 4:43 left, TCNJ's rookie guard Hannah Tait (Staten Island, NY/Notre Dame Academy) went to the line and hit one of two free throws and pulled the Lions to within one point, down 57-56.

Tait would convert on a break-away lay-up at 4:04 and give the Lions a 58-57 lead. The two teams would exchange leads over the next three plus minutes before Klimowicz would go to the line and make a pair of free throws at 2:18 and the Lions held a 62-59 lead. Freshman guard BriAnna Lucas (Hamilton, NJ/Nottingham) would hit a pair of free throws and her team trailed by one point, at 2:08. Klimowicz would score on a layup and would later return to the line to shoot two as WPU was over the limit and she would make two, tying TCNJ's single-game scoring mark.

TCNJ led 67-63 with 26 seconds left to play and Smith made a lay-up with 22.1 left to play pulling the Pioneers within two points. TCNJ would call a time out after trying to inbound the ball and would foul Klimowicz sending her to the line with 14.3 seconds and she made both to break the school mark in the process.

For the game, Klimowicz would make 13-of-18 shots from the floor, while hitting all nine free throws, while adding six blocks.

WPU was led by Smith as she had 19 points for the game, hitting 7-of-17 field goals and all five free throw attempts. Lucas netted 14 points with a pair of assists and a pair of steals. Smith made three blocks for the Pioneers as they shot an impressive 94.1% from the free throw line (16-17).

TCNJ returns to action on January 28 travelling to Kean University for a 6:00 p.m. match-up with the Cougars, while hosting William Paterson University travels to Montclair State University the same night for a 5:00 p.m. NJAC contest.