Box Score

Ewing, NJ … The College of New Jersey women's basketball team won its second straight home game defeating Delaware Valley College 74-61 in Packer Hall.
 
The Lions (5-3) earned their fifth win of the season as senior co-captain Jessica Imhof (Flemington, NJ/Hunterdon Central) scored a career-high 25 points. Co-captain Hannah Tait (Staten Island, NY/Notre Dam Academy) dropped in 20 points, while junior Candace Vigo (New Brunswick, NJ/New Brunswick Health and Science Tech) grabbed a season-high nine rebounds.
 
Junior Emily Soper (Selinsgrove, PA/Selinsgrove) had an outstanding game for the Aggies (5-3) leading the team with 23 points, 10 rebounds, and five blocked shots. Senior Brittany Battinieri (Brookhaven, PA/Ridley) drained four, three-point shots to finish with 17 points and four assists.
 
TCNJ played aggressive defense, forcing 20 turnovers in the game. They also won the battle under the glass out-rebounding Delaware Valley 45-36 in the win.
 
The game got off to a sluggish start with both teams struggling to establish a rhythm. With the score tied 8-8 with 12 minutes remaining, the tempo picked up as did the execution. The two teams traded short runs over the next eight minutes as DelVal reeled off five points on a Soper basket and Battinieri three-pointer. TCNJ countered with a basket from senior Kelsey Kutch (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) followed by a 3 from freshman Kelly Coughlin (Trumbull, CT/Trumbull).
 
The Aggies responded with a 6-0 run, but the Lions caught fire to take control of the contest with a 10-0 run. Vigo hit a short jumper and Tait drilled a long three to make it a 19-18 game with 5:34 on the clock. Senior Katie Occhipinti (Millington, NJ/The Pingry School) found Imhof underneath for a quick basket, and on the next possession, Imhof knocked down a trey and the Lions forged ahead 23-19.

At the intermission, TCNJ held a 28-23 lead.
 
DelVal quickly erased their deficit with a 7-0 run in the opening two minutes of the second half. Freshman Grace Mirak (Jamison, PA/Archbishop Wood) drained a shot from behind the arc to put the visitors ahead.
 
The score was even at 42 with 12:57, but back-to-back three pointers from Coughlin put the Lions in command. Imhof registered a conventional three-point play and TCNJ owned a 10-point cushion with 9:03 to play.
 
Soper and Battinieri continued to give the Lions fits as the Aggies trailed by just six with 4:19 on the clock, but the Aggies couldn't seem to get over the hump and seriously threaten TCNJ's advantage.
 
Imhof punctuated her career high with a long three off a feed from Coughlin with 1::45 remaining to the put game on ice.
 
Occhipinti had a strong performance dishing out six assists and nabbing three steals. Coughlin finished with a career-best 12 points on four-of-five shooting from behind the arc.
 
The Lions return to conference action on Thursday, December 8 when they host Moravian College at 6 p.m. Delaware Valley v travels to Penn State Wilkes-Barre on Saturday, December 10 at 1 p.m.