EWING N.J. – The TCNJ women's basketball team overcame a late push in regulation by William Paterson that forced overtime to defeat the Pioneers, 77-72, on Saturday afternoon at Packer Hall. TCNJ never trailed in the contest.
 
Julia Setaro scored a team-high 22 points and made four three pointers to pace the Lions. Nina Branchizio had eight points, six rebounds, six assists and two steals, and Sydney Blum had 10 rebounds and five blocked shots.
 
TCNJ scored six of the first seven points of the overtime period, fueled by field goals by Izzy Leazier and Isabella Cafaro and a pair of free throws by Nikki Alexatos. Cafaro's layup gave TCNJ a 70-65 lead with 2:37 to play in overtime.
 
William Paterson trailed, 72-70, with 1:10 left before Cafaro took over. She scored on a layup with a minute to play to make it 74-70, and she scored on a three-point play with 24 seconds left to push the lead to three possessions, 77-70. That proved to be an insurmountable deficit for the Pioneers after they clawed their way back into the game late in regulation.
 
The final 90 seconds of regulation created sufficient drama to push the game into overtime. Setaro made a tough, left-handed layup to give TCNJ a 61-57 lead with 1:30 left.
 
William Paterson replied with the next four points. Following Setaro's layup, Qiana Vigo hit a jumper from the right baseline to make it 61-59. TCNJ then couldn't get the ball across the half-court line in 10 seconds, resulting in a turnover.
 
WPU's Precious Allah followed with a layup and a foul that tied the score at 61 with 50 seconds left, but she missed the free throw that would have given William Paterson its first lead of the day.
 
On TCNJ's next possession, Branchizio was fouled on a loose ball, going to the line for two shots. She made the second, handing the Lions a 62-61 lead with 27 seconds left. Blum blocked Brianna Smith's shot – her fifth rejection of the day – in the lane that could have put WPU ahead. Instead, it fell to Setaro. She was fouled with 10 seconds left.
 
After she made both free throws, TCNJ led, 64-61. WPU scored with 5.1 seconds left on a put back from the block to cut the deficit back to one point. Smith then stole the TCNJ inbounds pass and was fouled. She made one of two, tying the score and sending the game into overtime.
 
TCNJ jumped out to a 12-3 lead and never trailed in the game. The Lions return to action on Wednesday at Rowan at 5:30 p.m.