Ewing, NJ …The College of New Jersey women's basketball team secured a critical, 65-57 victory over Rutgers-Newark on Saturday afternoon in Packer Hall.
 
The Lions evened their season mark at 10-10 and improved to 5-8 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference. The win leaves TCNJ just one game out of the top six spots in the NJAC standings with five more to play in the regular season. Rutgers-Newark dropped to 10-10 overall and 6-7 in the conference.
 
Junior guard Angelica Esposito (Lincroft, NJ/St. John Vianney) played a big role in the victory as she scored a career-high 23 points. Esposito spearheaded the offense on 6-of-11 shooting from the floor, 3-of-5 from behind the arc and a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line. Freshman Charlotte Schum (East Hanover, NJ/Morris Catholic) also set a new career-best with 11 points in 15 quality minutes off the bench. Schum found the bottom of the net on all four shots that left her fingertips, including a trio of three-point field goals. Senior Kelly Coughlin (Trumbull, CT/Trumbull) reached double figures with 11 points and was clutch for the Lions on both ends of the floor down the home stretch.
 
Senior forward Jade Howard (Sicklerville, NJ/St. Joseph's) had a terrific game with 21 points and nine rebounds. Sophomore Shala Glenn (Piscataway, NJ/Piscataway) finished with 12 points and Sharee Gordon (Newark, NJ/University) grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds to go with six points.
 
Play was even midway through the first half. The Lions moved the ball well on offense, registering assists on six of their first seven field goals. They also took care of the basketball, committing just four turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.
 
The Scarlet Raiders took charge of the game with just under 10 minutes left in the period with a 16-3 charge. The run was in large part due to the play of Howard. She connected on 7-of-9 shots from the floor for 17 points in the opening period. The Lions clawed their way back into the game late in the half. They cut the deficit to 29-27 before the break, despite shooting just 27 percent from the floor.
 
The Lions fell into a 37-30 hole early in the second period, but Schum and Esposito drained three-point shots. Sophomore Katy Amato (Ramapo, NJ/Wyckoff) then hit a reverse layup and short jumper to give TCNJ a 40-39 lead with 13:08 to play.
 
Glenn found the bottom of the net from underneath followed by a bucket from Maria Simmons (Irvington, NJIrvington). But Schum answered twice with 3-point daggers to bring the crowd to its feet and push the Lions ahead 46-43.
 
RN regained its footing and went up 50-48 with seven minutes remaining, but jumpers by Coughlin, senior Jessica Goldbach (Edison, NJ/John P. Stevens) and Esposito produced a 6-0 spurt. Esposito then dropped the hammer from deep for her third trey of the afternoon that gave TCNJ a 57-50 advantage with under three minutes to play.
 
The Lions' defense made it difficult for the Scarlet Raiders to gain ground. Down six with 30 second on the clock, Gordon grabbed on offensive board and quickly banked in a shot to close the gap to 61-57.
 
In the final seconds, Coughlin was fouled and knocked down both of her foul shots to extend the cushion back to six points. The Scarlet Raiders missed their shot attempt at the other end and Christina Merlin (Bishop Ahr, NJ/North Brunswick) put the ice on the win with two final points from the charity stripe. TCNJ was 11-of-12 from the line in the game.
 
The Lions return to Packer Hall on Wednesday when they take on NJAC foe Rowan University at 6p.m Rowan is currently third in the conference with a 10-3 league record.