Wayne, NJ… Having already moved past its first hurdle on its way through the New Jersey Athletic Conference Tournament, The College of New Jersey women's basketball team ran into an obstacle it couldn't clear on Wednesday as the Lions fell 55-39 at William Paterson University.
 
The second-seeded Pioneers (19-8) advance to the tournament finals against top-seeded and undefeated Montclair State University (26-0) on Saturday.
 
The third-seeded Lions (18-9) will now wait to see if they earn an at-large bid to the 2013 NCAA Division III Tournament, which will be announced at www.ncaa.com at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, February 25.
 
The first half was a battle of the defenses as each team endured offensive droughts. TCNJ led 6-3 early as Tiffany DeTulio (Colts Neck, NJ/Colts Neck), Kylie O'Donnell (Magnolia, NJ/Sterling), and Kelly Roddy (Belmar, NJ/St. Rose) each scored from the floor putting the visitors in front 6-3.
 
The Pioneers then went on an 11-0 run that covered more than 12 minutes to claim a 14-6 lead. William Paterson then extended that advantage to 20-7, but TCNJ's Kelly Coughlin (Trumbull, CT/Trumbull) drained a 3-pointer to give the Lions some life and DeTulio followed with two free throws less than a minute later making it a 20-12 game. That score then held until the half.
 
William Paterson started fast in the second half scoring the first 11 points of the new half pushing its lead to 31-12. The Pioneers were able to prevent TCNJ from putting together a big run and later built the difference to 51-23 on a bucket by Dana Jeter (Hamilton, NJ/Steinert) with 6:58 left in the game.
 
TCNJ continued to battle until the final horn closing on a 13-0 run with DeTulio doing most of the damage. The junior hit three 3-pointers and a pair of free throws during that stretch and senior Candace Vigo (New Brunswick, NJ/New Brunswick Health Science Technology) added the other field goal.
 
Defensively, the Lions played well forcing the Pioneers to commit 23 turnovers and limited them to only 31 percent (19-of-61) shooting from the floor.
 
William Paterson was equally as effective holding TCNJ to 20 percent shooting (13-for-64) from the floor.
 
DeTulio led all players with 17 points, which tied a career high. She also picked up five steals and grabbed four rebounds. Roddy had a balanced game scoring seven points and snaring six rebounds.