NEWARK, N.J. – The TCNJ women's basketball team came back from a long holiday hiatus with a strong 70-62 victory over Rutgers-Newark in NJAC action on Wednesday night.
Izzy Leazier had a career-high 22 points.
TCNJ made its mark in the first and third quarters, shooting 50 percent or better in each of those periods while also holding Rutgers-Newark to less than 30 percent in both of those quarters. TCNJ took a 17-9 after the first quarter as it held Newark to just 28.6 percent from the floor.
TCNJ took a 29-23 lead into halftime, and a strong third quarter propelled the Lions to the victory. In the third quarter, TCNJ shot 58.8 percent (10-for-17) while Newark was 21.1 percent (4-for-19).
TCNJ held Newark without a field goal for more than four minutes in the third quarter, pushing its halftime advantage of six points into the double-digit range.
Mollie Brueggemeier got a steal and a fast break layup with 2:50 left in the third to make it 41-30.
After Newark scored to cut it back to nine, the Lions finished the quarter on a 9-2 run.
Emily Toy scored four points on the run, and
Arianna McCleod followed with a layup with 1:14 left to make it 47-34.
Nina Branchizio capped the scoring with a three pointer with just five seconds remaining to send TCNJ into the fourth with its largest lead of the night to that point, 50-34.
In the fourth, Newark had the TCNJ lead cut to five at 57-52 with 3:38 remaining, but Leazier nailed a three pointer with 2:59 to play to push the lead back to eight points.
Sydney Blum followed with four straight points on a layup and two free throws to make it 64-52. Newark had it back to a six-point game in the final half-minute, but it could draw no closer. The Lions went 8-for-10 from the stripe in the fourth.
Leazier's 22 points mark her career high midway through her sophomore campaign. It's her third double-digit scoring game of the season, with her previous high coming with 11 points against Rutgers-Camden on Dec. 1.
TCNJ returns to action on Saturday at home against William Paterson at 1 p.m.
