Box Score
Senior Night
Ewing, NJ … The College of New Jersey women's basketball team turned back 21
st-ranked Kean University 65-55 on Senior Night in Packer Hall.
The Lions (16-8, 8-4) saved their best performance of the season for their final regular season home game, playing spirited, yet composed basketball en route to their 16
th win of the season. The Cougars (20-4, 11-1) suffered their first New Jersey Athletic Conference loss of the season.
The seniors answered the call for TCNJ as all four players had a major impact on the game.
Jessica Imhof (Flemington, NJ/Hunterdon Central) led the Lions with 15 points, which included hitting all nine free throw attempts.
Hannat Tait (Staten Island, NY/Notre Dame Academy) and
Kelsey Kutch (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) also reached double figures with 10 points each. Point guard
Katie Occhipinti (Millington, NJ/The Pingry School) matched a season-high with seven points and also had four rebounds and three assists.
The Cougars were led by senior
Brittany Powell (Tinton Falls, NJ/Monmouth Regional) who finished with 15 points. Junior
Namah Clemons (Newark, NJ/Newark Tech) had 12 points and four steals, while senior
Erika Jones (Perth Amboy, NJ/Perth Amboy) chipped in with 11 points.
TCNJ did a terrific job of containing the Kean offense, which entered the game ranked ninth in the country in scoring at 76.7 points per game. They limited the Cougars to 30 percent shooting from the floor, amassed 17 steals, and forced 29 turnovers in the contest.
The game started off well for Kean as they collected four offensive boards in the first two minutes of play to spearhead an early lead. The Lions kept the score in range before getting a big lift off their bench from a pair of underclassmen. Freshman
Kelly Coughlin (Trumbull, CT/Trumbull) took a feed from sophomore
Kelly Roddy (Belmar, NJ/St. Rose) and buried a three-pointer. Coughlin then returned the favor by setting up Roddy for a three on the ensuing possession to make it a 13-12 Cougar lead with ten minutes to play.
TCNJ was doing a terrific job on the defensive end, putting the Cougar offense on hold for a span of 7:40. After a
Liz West (Monmouth Beach, NJ/Shore Regional) steal, she found Occhipinti on a backdoor cut to give TCNJ its first lead of the game at 14-13. Kutch then hit a 12-foot jumper at the 4:45 mark to push the lead to three.
Jones knocked down a three-point shot at the 4:24 to end the Cougar drought on offense. Kean regained when senior
Danielle McFadden (Odenton, MD/Arundel) dropped in a pair of free throws with 20 seconds left in the half.
It was short-lived as Occhipinti made a great pass to Kutch underneath, giving TCNJ a 26-25 lead at the break.
Kean came out hurried in the second half, committing seven turnovers in the first four minutes. After Roddy registered a conventional three-point play, the Lions extended their lead to 35-27 at the 15:19 mark. They maintained that momentum to increase their advantage to double digits as Kutch hit a pair of free throws to go up 40-30.
Play remained even over the next four minutes until the Cougars finally put together a run. Powell hit a long three-pointer that was followed by a pair of McFadden free throws. Clemons hit a layup in transition to close the gap to 46-44 with just over eight minutes remaining.
Imhof responded by scoring five straight points as TCNJ regained command. Kean did answer back and cut the deficit to one point with five minutes to play, but the Lions would never relinquish the lead in the second half. Occhipinti, Imhof, and Tait were all perfect from the free throw line in the final minutes as the Lions held on to pull off the upset.
Roddy finished with eight points and junior
Candace Vigo (New Brunswick, NJ/New Brunswick Health Science Tech) collected a team-high six rebounds for TCNJ.
TCNJ plays its final regular season game this Saturday, February 11 at Rutgers University-Camden at 1 p.m. The Lions return to home on Saturday, February 18 to host the first round of the NJAC playoffs. The time for that game is tentatively set for 1 p.m.
