Box Score

Ewing, NJ... A frantic comeback by The College of New Jersey women's basketball came up short against a tough opponent in Alvernia University as the Lions suffered a 64-59 setback at Packer Hall.

Trailing by more than 20 points late into the second half, TCNJ went on a 20-1 run to close the gap to within four points with under a minute remaining. But the Crusaders were a perfect eight-for-eight from the foul line in the final 36 seconds to stave off the Lions late-game surge.

Alvernia's Angela Altemose (Pottsville, PA/Nativity BVM) led all scorers with 16 points and Alex Velazquez (Lancaster, PA/Manheim Township) grabbed 14 rebounds to cop their sixth win in eight games this season.

Sophomore Jessica Imhoff (Flemington, NJ/Hunterdon Central) pumped in a career-high 12 points to lead the Lions offense. Sophomore Hannah Tait (Staten Island, NY/Notre Dame Academy) netted 11 points and freshman Candace Vigo (New Brunswick, NJ/New Brunswick Health Science Tech) chipped in with 10 points and eight rebounds.

TCNJ had trouble dealing with Alvernia's size as Velazquez and Altemose bottled up the paint on defense making it difficult for Vigo and Tait to get quality looks underneath. TCNJ seemed a bit hesitant to take outside shots and it was with cause. The Lions missed their first ten, three-point attempts, but rallied late in the game to drain four of their final six attempts including two by junior Stephanie Prall (Kinnelon, NJ/Kinnelon). Prall finished with a career-best eight points.

With 6:41 remaining in the game, the Crusaders had the game well in-hand holding a 22-point advantage. But Tait's three-pointer with 1:35 remaining pulled TCNJ to within 11, forcing an Alvernia timeout. Imhoff sank a pair of free throws and hit Tait underneath with a pass to cut the deficit to seven points with 1:00 remaining. Imhoff then rang the bell from three point-range with 50 seconds left to make it 56-52 game.

Despite the flurry of clutch shots, former Notre Dame High School standout Joanna Graber (Manalapan, NJ/Notre Dame) was a perfect 6-for-6 from the line to hold off the Lions rally. Graber finished with 10 points and junior Kelly McIntyre (Orwigsburg, PA/Blue Mountain) also contributed 12 points.

The Lions return to action at New Jersey City University for a New Jersey Athletic Conference match-up on Saturday, January 9 at 2 p.m. The Lions return home for a conference double-header on Wednesday, January 13 when they host Rutgers University-Camden.

Alvernia visits Lebanon College on Saturday at 1 p.m.