Box Score

Ewing, NJ … The College of New Jersey women's basketball team battled its way to an exciting victory as they edged Richard Stockton College 58-57 in New Jersey Athletic Conference action on Wednesday night in Packer Hall.
 
Junior Colleen Duffy (Spotswood, NJ/Spotswood) collected her own rebound and banked in a shot with 57 seconds remaining in what would be the eventual game-winner as the Lions (2-2, 1-1) fought from behind to capture their home opener and first NJAC win of the season.
 
Junior Kelly Roddy (Belmar, NJ/St. Rose) scored a game-high 13 points and junior Tiffany DeTulio (Colts Neck, NJ/Colts Neck) tallied 12 points to lead TCNJ's offense. Senior Candace Vigo (New Brunswick, NJ/New Brunswick Health Science Technology) grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and finished with seven points.
 
The victory overshadowed an exceptional performance by Osprey senior Che'Na Thompson (Salem, NJ/Salem). She netted a game-high 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting and also collected 11 rebounds to round out her double-double. Senior Alex Ryan (Hazlet, NJ/Raritan) finished with 12 points and is now eight points shy of her 1,000^th career point.
 
The Ospreys (1-1, 0-1 NJAC) led the majority of the second half, but could never pull away. TCNJ never trailed by more than three points and tied it up when sophomore Jessica Goldbach (Edison, NJ/JP Stevens) knocked down a long three-point shot with 6:40 to play. Duffy then hit a trey from the right corner to give the Lions their first lead of the half at the 6:03 mark.
 
The Ospreys bounced back, however, and held a 55-54 lead with just over two minutes remaining. Vigo hit a short jumper, and TCNJ's defense was able to make a stop on the defensive end. Duffy then hustled to rebound her own miss and put it through the hoop to stretch the lead to 58-55 with 57 seconds on the clock.
 
Thompson took an inbounds pass and muscled her way into the paint to bank in a shot to cut the Lions lead a point with 35 seconds left to play. Stockton forced a shot clock violation to get the ball back with five seconds remaining, but a desperation shot clanked off the rim to end the early season thriller.
 
The Lions came out strong in their home opener, racing out to a 10-2 lead in the first five minutes. The run was punctuated by a DeTulio three-pointer from the left side. The Ospreys found their rhythm and stormed back with a 13-3 run of its own to gain their first lead at 15-13 with just over nine minutes remaining in the half.
 
TCNJ heated up in the latter stages of the half, hitting five of its last six shots. Goldbach had a put-back with 29 seconds remaining before taking a feed from Duffy and banking it in at the buzzer to give the Lions a 30-24 lead at the intermission.
 
Thompson scored five quick points out of the locker room, spearheading a 12-0 run by the Ospreys to open the second period. But TCNJ regrouped to steady the ship and register their first home victory.
 
Goldbach finished with nine points and sophomore Kelly Coughlin (Trumbull, CT/Trumbull) dished out a team-high four assists. Sophomore Kylie O'Donnell (Magnolia, NJ/Sterling) enjoyed a solid performance with five points, five rebounds, and three assists. Duffy also four steals in the win.
 
The Lions return to action when they visit Kean University this Saturday in a non-conference game at 3 p.m. The Ospreys host NJAC foe William Paterson University on Saturday at 1 p.m.