Box Score

Ewing …The College of New Jersey women's basketball team combined an effective offense with a stingy defense to defeat Rowan University 83-57 on Wednesday night in Packer Hall.

The victory pushes the Lions' (17-6, 13-3 NJAC) winning streak to six straight. They can clinch a first-round bye in the New Jersey Athletic Conference championship tournament with a victory over New Jersey City University this Saturday or Montclair State University next Wednesday night.

Senior Kelly Roddy (Belmar, NJ/St. Rose) led the attack with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Classmate Tiffany DeTulio (Colts Neck, NJ/Colts Neck) produced another strong all-around game with 13 points, six rebounds, two assists, and four steals. Senior Colleen Duffy (Spottswood, NJ/Spottswood) was also sharp with 10 points and three steals.

The Profs dropped to 6-17 on the season and 5-11 in the NJAC. Sophomore Kate Matthews (Clark, NJ/Arthur L. Johnson) led Rowan with 14 points and six boards. Freshman Valerie Garofalo (Vernon, NJ/Holy Spirit) also reached double figures with 10 points.

Both teams shot the ball well early on, connecting on better than 50 percent of their field goal attempts in the opening 10 minutes. Matthews converted on a conventional three-point play to tie the game at 16. Senior Liz West (Monmouth Beach, NJ/Shore Regional) banked in a layup off a spin move, but Matthews answered with a short jumper to make it an 18-18 game with 10:30 remaining in the half.

The Lions used the long ball in the latter portion of the opening period to put some distance between them and the Profs. Leading by one point at the 6:09 mark, junior Kyle O'Donnell (Magnolia, NJ/Sterling) drained a three-pointer. After a Rowan bucket, Roddy struck from downtown to push ahead 27-22.

DeTulio took a feed from junior Kelly Coughlin (Trumbull, CT/Trumbull) with 1:22 left on the clock and knocked down a shot from behind the arc and TCNJ headed to the locker room with 34-25 advantage. They registered six three-point field goals in the half, and also forced 15 Prof turnovers to command the scoreboard.

An 18-2 spurt to open the second half stretched the lead to 25 points. Rowan was guilty of six turnovers in under five minutes and the Lions capitalized on five of those giveaways.

The Lions shot just a fraction under 50 percent from the floor in the game and copped 13 steals in the contest. They topped 80 points for the second straight game and sixth time this season.

Coughlin finished with nine points and four rebounds and O'Donnell tallied eight points and dished out three assists. TCNJ received solid production off the bench as well as sophomore Jess Lynch (Sandy Hook, CT/Newtown) scored six points and grabbed three boards. Freshman Kim Dana (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) added five points and two assists, while sophomore Christina Merlina (North Brunswick, NJ/Bishop Ahr) finished with six points, three rebounds and three assists.

The Lions visit NJCU on Saturday for a 5 p.m. start. The Profs travel to Rutgers-Newark to play 6 p.m. conference match.