Camden, NJ... Senior Jessica Goldbach (Edison, NJ/John P. Stevens) put back an offensive rebound with 17 seconds left as The College of New Jersey women's basketball team fought its way to a 52-50 road win at Rutgers-Camden on Tuesday.
 
The game was tied at 50-50 in the final seconds when Goldbach corralled a missed attempt by junior Angelica Esposito (Lincroft, NJ/St. John Vianney) and quickly took advantage of the team's second chance with a lay up to put TCNJ in the lead.
 
The team's defense allowed only a last-second shot by Rutgers-Camden's Tanjae Lewis that misfired as the Lions held on for the win.
 
TCNJ is now 3-2 on the season and an even 1-1 in New Jersey Athletic Conference play. The Scarlet Raptors fell to 1-4 overall and 0-2 in the conference.
 
The second half was close throughout as the teams were tied five times, including in the final minute of the game.
 
TCNJ's defense did a solid job in keeping Rutgers-Camden from putting together any type of big run in that second half. Early on, the Scarlet Raptors scored six straight points, but they would only get consecutive baskets on two other occasions after that. At one point, the Lions held their hosts without a field goal for 7:34 of playing time to keep things tight to the end when Goldbach netted the deciding basket.
 
The first half saw the teams stay within striking distance of each other with TCNJ holding the biggest lead of the opening 20 minutes at 20-13. The Lions took that lead when Goldbach hit from the floor with 8:31 left.
 
Rutgers-Camden battled back with a 10-0 run to take a three-point lead, but the Lions used a modest 8-4 burst in the final 3:08 to carry a 28-27 lead into the break. In that run to close out the half, all four field goals came from different players as senior Kelly Coughlin (Trumball, CT/Trumball), Goldbach, Esposito and senior Kylie O'Donnell (Magnolia, NJ/Sterling) each contributed with a bucket.
 
Goldbach led the Lions with 15 points, while Esposito and Coughlin each had 12.
 
TCNJ is idle until Wednesday, December 3 when the host conference opponent Richard Stockton College at 8 p.m. in Packer Hall.