EWING, N.J. – The TCNJ women's basketball team blitzed visiting Ramapo early and never looked back en route to a convincing 61-49 NJAC victory on Wednesday night.
The 3-point shooting of
Nina Branchizio (15 points) and
Julia Setaro (13), who combined for eight triples, made all the difference as Ramapo continually threatened to recover from TCNJ's opening blitz. Branchizio was a perfect 5-for-5 from distance and the Lions sank 12 3-pointers on the night, while Ramapo managed just two on 13 attempts.
The Lions made five 3-pointers in the first eight minutes, roaring out to a 20-point advantage in the opening quarter. They led wire-to-wire in securing a massive result in the chase for a top-six finish and a first-round bye in the NJAC tournament.
Branchizio came out firing with 3-pointers on two of the Lions' first four possessions, and
Izzy Leazier hit
Isabella Cafaro with a perfect bounce on pass a pick-and-roll as the hosts opened up an early 9-4 advantage after
Sydney Blum split a pair at the line.
Leazier made an incredible hustle play on the next trip, racing to the base line to save a missed shot and tip it back into play, setting up Blum for an uncontested drive to the basket. The lead swelled to double digits when
Morgan Heller corralled a missed free throw by Setaro and then assisted on a right-wing triple by Setaro, and Branchizio made it 18-4 with her third triple of the opening quarter.
By the time
Emily Toy got in on the fun with a swished trey from the left side, TCNJ had opened up a 21-4 lead and forced Ramapo into an early timeout. It only got better from there, as
Arianna McCleod surged down the lane for a three-point play and a 20-point advantage (24-4) on the Lions' last possession of the frame.
Leazier continued the surge in the second quarter, driving baseline for a nifty reverse lay-up. Both teams struggled offensively in the period, but TCNJ's defense prevented the Roadrunners from chipping heavily into the lead and the home side went into the break armed with a 33-19 upper hand.
Ramapo started the second half with a three-point play to get within 11, but Heller banged in a 3-pointer and a long jumper to push it back to a 16-point margin. The Roadrunners dropped the deficit to single digits for the first time since the first quarter on a three-point play by Olivia Johnstone that made it 40-33 with 2:45 left in the quarter, and Johnstone went right down the lane on the next trip to cut it to five.
Alie Wickersheim's turn-around in the lane got Ramapo to within 40-37, but Branchizio stopped the spurt with a huge 3-pointer, her fourth of the night, to restore some breathing room with just over a minute to play in the third and Setaro splashed another deep ball from straight on to beat the buzzer and make it 46-37.
Branchizio had another big answer early in the fourth. After Ramapo got back to a six-point deficit, she drained a deep 3-pointer towards the end of the shot clock to short-circuit another potential Roadrunner rally. Setaro came through with another trey of her own, a quick catch-and-shoot on a feed from Leazier to make it 52-41 at the 7:06 mark.
After a nice mid-range jumper by Leazier, Heller stuck the dagger in with a straight-on 3-pointer as the shot clock expired, stretching the TCNJ lead to 58-43 with 4:26 to play.
Branchizio supplemented her hot shooting with three assists and a team-high seven rebounds to help the Lions keep pace with the league's best rebounding team. Leazier stuffed the box score with six boards and four assists, and Blum had nine points, four rebounds, and three blocked shots. Heller finished with eight points, four rebounds, and three assists.
TCNJ held Ramapo to 34.6-percent overall (18-of-52) and got 18 points from its bench compared to just seven for the Roadrunners. Ramapo leading scorer Jada Thompson was just 2-for-13 from the field.
The Lions continue NJAC play at William Paterson on Saturday.
