Box Score

Ewing, NJ…Despite a valiant effort under the boards, The College of New Jersey women's basketball team dropped its home opener to Moravian College 86-81 in Packer Hall on Wednesday night.

The Lions (1-2) outrebounded the Greyounds by a margin of 56-39, a total of 35 of those coming on the offensive end of the floor. But Junior Alexis Wright (Shillington, Pa/Governor Mifflin) was too difficult to contain as her 31-point effort led Moravian to its second victory of the season.

TCNJ had a balanced effort on offense as four players finished with double figures. Junior Kelly Coughlin (Trumbull, CT/Trumbull) paced the Lions with 14 points, while senior (Kelly Roddy (Belmar, NJ/St. Rose) netted 12 points. Juniors Tiffany DeTulio (Colts Neck, NJ/Colts Neck) and Jessica Goldbach (Edison, NJ/John P. Stevens) each tallied 11 points in the loss.

A three-point bucket by Coughlin with 3:14 remaining pulled the Lions within two points at 75-73. Wright responded with back-to-back conventional three-point plays in the final two minutes, however, allowing the Greyhounds to pull away from an otherwise tight contest. The 5' 11" forward registered a double-double with 10 rebounds and added six blocked shots in the game.

Moravian got off to a hot start and had the better of play through the first ten minutes. Senior Ericka Blair (Easton, Pa/Bethlehem Catholic) hit a jumper with 8:32 remaining in the half to give the Greyhounds their largest lead at 28-19. The Lions battled their way back to shrink the deficit to 36-33 after a pair of free throws from senior Colleen Duffy (Spotswood, NJ/Spotswood). Senior Liz West (Monmouth Beach, NJ/Shore Regional) cut the lead to one point making good on both of her foul shots with 3:26 left in the period.

Junior Kylie O'Donnell (Magnolia, NJ/Sterling) gave the Lions their first lead since the 14:23 mark after draining a pair from the charity stripe with 1:34 on the clock. TCNJ's defense also stiffened up, holding Moravian without a field goal for 5:11 down the stretch until a Wright put-back tied the score at 39.

A Coughlin jumper with 40 seconds remaining gave TCNJ a 42-41 lead at the intermission.

Play remained even through the opening minutes of the second half. Freshman Nellie Tanguay (Pennington, NJ/Hopewell Valley) drained a long three with 13:53 remaining to push the Greyhounds out to a 58-56 lead. A bucket by sophomore Alesha Marcks (Northampton, PA/Northampton) made it a four-point cushion, but Coughlin drained a shot from behind the arc to cut the lead to one.

Three straight offensive rebounds by the Lions and a foul put DeTulio at the line. She made both to end a three-minute drought on offense. West then collected an offensive board and laid it in to make it a 72-68 game with just over four minutes left in the game.

Wright then put the game away late with six straight points. Marks finished with 10 points in the game, while senior guard Alyssa Hann (Nazareth, Pa/Nazareth) added eight points and four assists.

West, Goldbach, and Duffy each had a team-high eight rebounds. West and Goldbach grabbed six on the offense end.

The Lions are back in action this Saturday at 1 p.m. as they host William Paterson University in their New Jersey Athletic Conference opener in Packer Hall.