TCNJ Athletics is celebrating the best moments of 2019-20. Through the spring and summer, join us every Wednesday for one of the top moments of the year, along with the original postgame recap story.

Today's top moment comes from Feb. 22, 2020. The TCNJ women's basketball team defeated William Paterson in an exciting NJAC Tournament first-round game. The Lions trailed the Pioneers, 56-52, with over a minute to play in the fourth quarter. Elle Cimilluca hit a free throw, then Morgan Heller scored a lay-up after an offensive rebound to cut the deficit to one. The Pioneers made a free throw to take a two-point lead with 20 seconds left. With 12 seconds left, Shannon Devitt tied it with a clutch lay-up, and TCNJ's defense got a stop to force overtime.

The Lions scored the last seven points in overtime to secure the victory. Devitt scored in close again to push the lead to 62-59 with two minutes to go. With just over a minute to play, Cimilluca was fouled shooting a three-pointer and made all three free throws. The Lions' defense stifled the Pioneers' offense down the stretch, and TCNJ allowed only William Paterson to score two points all of overtime.

ORIGINAL RECAP:

EWING, N.J. – The TCNJ women's basketball team pulled out a thrilling, 67-59, overtime win against William Paterson in the first round of the NJAC Tournament on Saturday.

The Lions (16-10) trailed, 56-52, with a minute left in the fourth quarter but rallied to tie the game. Elle Cimilluca pulled down an offensive rebound and was fouled on the put back attempt. She made the first free throw then missed the second, however Sydney Blum kept it alive with an offensive rebound. Morgan Heller hit a lay-up from underneath to pull the Lions within 56-55.

William Paterson (11-15) made one of two free throws to take a two-point lead. After a timeout, the Lions had the ball with 19 seconds to play, and Mollie Brueggemeier found Shannon Devitt in the post. Devitt, battling injury, tied it with a clutch lay-up. The Lions' defense stopped the Pioneers' offense on the other end to force overtime. William Paterson had a good look from the post, yet it did not fall. A scramble for the rebound ensued and wound up in a jump ball. The Pioneers retained possession with less than a second left, yet TCNJ deflected the inbounds pass to force overtime.

TCNJ carried the momentum over into the extra session and outscored William Paterson by a 10-2 margin in overtime. With 2:15 to play, the Pioneers made a pair of free throws to cut TCNJ's lead to 60-59. After that, the game was all TCNJ. Devitt scored from in close to push the edge back to three. The Lions' defense got a stop, then Cimilluca was fouled shooting a three-pointer. She made all three free throws to give TCNJ a 65-59 lead with only 1:04 to go. TCNJ's defense shut down William Paterson's offense in the final minute to clinch the exciting first-round victory.

Early in the third quarter the Pioneers went up, 27-19, but the Lions charged back with a 9-0 run. Heller sank a corner three-pointer off a Cimilluca assist. Blum capped off the run with a put back after grabbing an offensive rebound.

Both sides traded blows in the third quarter. Brueggemeier made a lay-up to pull the Lions within 33-32 with 4:52 left in the third. Cimilluca drilled a three-pointer to put TCNJ ahead by two, yet the Pioneers had an answer on the other end to tie it up. With time winding down in the third, Jen Byrne scored a lay-up on a tough take to make it 39-39.

Back-to-back three-pointers from Cimilluca and Byrne gave TCNJ a 50-46 lead with 6:23 left in the fourth quarter. The Pioneers then went on a 10-2 run to take a four-point lead with two minutes left, yet the Lions did not give up.

Cimilluca scored a career-high 21 points to lead the Lions. She also added six rebounds and five assists. Devitt scored 17 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and blocked four shots. With the 10 rebounds, Devitt moved into second place all-time in TCNJ history. She now has 857 boards in her career. Candy Kaschak owns the program record with 962 rebounds.

Byrne scored nine points and grabbed six rebounds. With the nine points, she moved into sixth place in program history in scoring. She now has 1,280 points, and is two behind Chris Neibert for fifth place in TCNJ history.

TCNJ head coach Chessie Jackson reflected on her team's resiliency. "It was a gut check," said Jackson. "Even when the chips weren't falling our way, and we weren't creating enough on offense, or getting stops on defense, we believed that we could do this and get it done."

The Lions advance to the NJAC Semifinal to take on the No. 1 seed in Rowan. The Lions will travel to Glassboro, N.J. to face the Profs on Feb. 25. TCNJ split the season series with the Profs. The first game was won by Rowan before the Lions got revenge in game two.

Jackson took some time to talk about the Lions' toughness. "All of the physical obstacles that we could've seen we did," Jackson said. "I think the team came together, and is now going to trust that we can tough out those moments, which is huge going into Tuesday."