EWING, N.J. – In a wild back-and-forth affair with 20 lead changes, the TCNJ women's basketball team had the last laugh.

Julia Setaro poured in a career-high 33 points, including 24 after halftime, to carry the Lions to a come-from-behind victory over New Jersey City, 64-60, in an NJAC thriller on Saturday afternoon.

Setaro put the team on her back and never faltered in a see-saw tilt that came down to the wire. Trailing 59-55 with just over a minute remaining, the junior splashed a critical 3-pointer while coming off a screen to cut the deficit to one. TCNJ got a stop at the other end and took the lead for good when Arianna McCleod put back Setaro's miss – one of only a few in the second half – with 35 seconds remaining.

After a pair of misses at the line by the Gothic Knights, Setaro calmly stepped to the stripe and made both to make it 62-59 with 15.4 ticks showing. NJCU had one last chance when a player was fouled attempting a 3, but she misfired on the first two. After a make on the third, Setaro received the inbounds pass and was fouled, again sinking both to ice the contest.

Setaro's career day was exactly what the Lions needed on an afternoon in which they committed 23 turnovers and missed 11 of their first 12 at the foul line. The sharp-shooter finished 10-for-19 overall and 5-for-8 from 3-point range, all while connecting on all eight of her free-throw tries.

Emily Toy finished with 11 points for TCNJ, and McCleod chipped in with eight points and seven rebounds.

Neither side was able to gain much traction in a first half fraught with turnovers and missed opportunities. The two teams combined for 31 turnovers in the opening half (16 for NJCU, 15 for TCNJ), and the Gothic Knights missed eight free throws.

Still, the Lions endured their own struggles and were only able to take their largest lead of the half when Julia Setaro knocked down a transition 3-pointer on an assist from Emily Toy to make it 22-19 with 1:46 to play.

New Jersey City, meanwhile, scored the last five points of the second stanza to take a lead into intermission and quickly pushed the advantage out to double-digits with eight quick points to open the third quarter, opening up a 32-22 lead before two minutes had elapsed.

Despite their first-half struggles, TCNJ wasted no time erasing what seemed an insurmountable lead for the Gothic Knights. Setaro caught fire, banging home jumpers on back-to-back possessions before setting up Nina Branchizio's left-wing triple that capped an 11-0 spurt and gave the Lions the lead at 33-32 just past the midway point of the frame.

The lead continued to see-saw back and forth, and Setaro's red-hot shooting stretch continued with a swished 3-pointer from the left corner that leveled the score at 44 just ahead of the third-quarter buzzer.

After Setaro hit another triple to make it 50-50 with 5:42 to play, the Gothic Knights scored the next four points and threatened to pull away for good when Laney Fox converted a three-point play with 1:33 to go. But Setaro drilled a clutch trey and the rest of the final moments fell the Lions' way.

TCNJ stayed close throughout thanks to another stout defensive performance, holding NJCU to 36.4 percent from the field and pressuring the Gothic Knights into 26 turnovers. The Lions also got some help at the charity stripe, where the visitors were just 18-of-33 (54.5 percent).

The women's basketball team heads to Scranton to compete in a holiday tournament, opening up against Stevenson on December 21.