Box Score

Wayne, NJ…The College of New Jersey women's basketball team made a late surge in trying to deal host William Paterson University its first loss of the season, but the 15th-ranked Pioneers were able to hold off the Lions on Saturday, 62-56.

The loss knocked the Lions to 4-5 on the season and 0-2 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference play, while the Pioneers remained undefeated at 9-0 and 2-0 in the conference.

The teams were deadlocked at 45-45 with less than eight minutes remaining before the hosts went on a 14-4 run pushing the margin to 10 in the closing minutes.

TCNJ fought back as freshman Candace Vigo (New Brunswick, NJ/New Brunswick Health Science Tech.) and junior Stephanie Prall (Kinnelon, NJ/Kinnelon) netted back-to-back buckets with Prall adding another point from the line making it a 59-54 contest.

William Paterson, however, cashed in from the foul line in the waning seconds making the final a score six-point margin.

The Lions had four players reach double figures in the game led by sophomore Hannah Tait (Staten Island, NY/Notre Dame Academy) as she finished with 14 points, while Vigo was right behind her with 13. Junior Kelsey Kutch (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) just missed a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds and Prall chipped in with a career high 11 points.

The Lions have a break in the schedule due to the holidays returning to the court on December 30 heading to Marymount University.