EWING, N.J. – A huge lift off the from bench Kaitlyn Deiter and company was just what the TCNJ women's basketball team needed to shake off a slow start and keep its season alive with an 85-54 victory over Rutgers-Newark in the first round of the NJAC tournament on Saturday.

Deiter notched a career-high 10 points and added eight rebounds, six assists, and three blocks to help the Lions cruise into a quarterfinal date at top-seeded Kean on Tuesday night. Julia Setaro scored 10 of her 14 points in the third and Sydney Blum chipped in with 13 points and six rebounds for TCNJ, which shot 55.3 percent (26-of-47) after the first period and committed only seven turnovers in the first three frames.

Thirteen different players got on the scoresheet for the Lions, and TCNJ connected on 11 3-pointers for the afternoon.

TCNJ (12-12) wound up defeating the Scarlet Raiders (4-19) handily for the third time this season. Unlike the first two meetings, including a 62-31 rout on Wednesday night, this one wasn't always a rocking-chair ride. The Lions did not lead until the second quarter, but thanks to Deiter and her reserve mates, the hosts managed to take control late in the period before Setaro and the starting cavalry rolled in to put the game away in the third.

Unlike on Wednesday night, the Lions did trail in this one. In fact, Rutgers-Camden was ahead or tied for the entirety of the first quarter, going in front by as many as six (13-7) late in the opening frame.

In a bit of a funk, it was Deiter who came through to get the Lions back on track. She scored on a couple of identical post moves, using a drop-step before going up strong with the left hand, the second bringing TCNJ back to within two at the end of the period. Deiter put up five points, two rebounds, and a block in her seven first-quarter minutes.

The home side got untracked once the second stanza got underway, pulling ahead for the first time on Blum's right-wing 3-pointer on their first possession. Izzy Leazier scored on a blow-by and, after a Newark basket, Setaro swished a pull-up from the foul line to make it 18-15 and force a timeout.

The Scarlet Raiders overturned a five-point deficit and swung into two more ties, but Arianna McCleod took control from there with seven points in a quick-fire sequence. She scored on a wide-open lay-up after an offensive rebound and dish from Deiter, then put TCNJ on top to stay at 25-22 with a corner 3-pointer on the next trip.

A put-back by Emily Toy, a beautiful pass from Deiter to a cutting McCleod, and a right-corner trey from Nina Branchizio all followed in quick succession, and all of a sudden the Lions had opened up a double-digit margin at 32-22 with 1:59 left in the first half.

The 10-0 spurt took less than two minutes of game time and left Newark chasing the rest of the way, but it wasn't quite over. Deiter extended it with a put-back plus the foul, making it 35-22 with a conventional three-point play. Rutgers-Newark stopped the bleeding with a basket just before intermission, but the damage had been done.

Blum put an exclamation point on a big third-quarter sequence, swatting a Scarlet Raider shot and collecting the rebound to set off a transition opportunity that ended in a 3-pointer by Setaro. After Leazier knocked down a straight-on triple, the Lions had taken a commanding 46-29 lead with 5:53 on the clock.

The Lions continued to get their full complement involved, with Nikki Alexatos connecting on a trey before Isabella Cafaro scored on a feed inside from Deiter following a scintillating tic-tac-toe passing sequence. Blum's transition triple stretched the spread out to 56-31 with 2:28 left in the third.

The lead ballooned to as many as 31 points in the fourth quarter, during which Jordyn Herwood drained a 3-pointer, Alexis Voorhees buried a deep two, and Beth Grossman scored on a nice pick-and-roll with Alexatos.

Branchizio, Cafaro, and McCleod each scored seven points for the Lions. Alexatos had six to go with four rebounds and three assists, while Voorhees and Leazier chipped in five apiece, the latter adding four assists.

Next up is a date with the top-seeded Cougars. TCNJ kept things close in the teams' lone regular-season meeting, dropping a 58-49 decision in Union.