WAYNE, N.J. – A big run bridging the halftime break propelled the TCNJ women's basketball team to another dominating NJAC performance on Saturday as the Lions broke away from host William Paterson for a 53-41 victory.

Kaitlyn Deiter notched career highs in points (12) and rebounds (9), just missing her first career double-double in another impressive effort to spark TCNJ (10-4, 5-2) to its fourth straight win. Julia Setaro added 10 points in a balanced effort for the Lions, who turned a matchup of teams with identical records into a runaway and cruised into sole possession of second place in the NJAC standings.

The stingy Lions hassled the Pioneers (9-5, 4-3) into a 27.3-percent performance from the field, marking the 10^th consecutive game in which they have held their opponents under 36.0 percent. Thanks largely to Deiter, they also handled William Paterson on the glass to the tune of a 48-27 rebounding advantage.

After a tight first quarter ended with a 12-10 edge, TCNJ started to separate with a 10-2 run to open the second stanza, spurred on by a pair of 3-pointers from Nina Branchizio. The sophomore's third trey of the period put the Lions on top, 30-18, heading into intermission.

TCNJ held William Paterson off the board for the final 2:58 of the second quarter and the first 3:22 of the third, and by the time the Pioneers ended their lengthy drought the visitors had built up a 37-18 margin. Deiter assisted on a pair of Setaro baskets and scored one of her own in the spurt to begin the second half.

After a brief Paterson push, Emily Toy scored five straight points to restore a 19-point spread, and a free throw by Izzy Leazier with 1:10 to go in the third gave TCNJ its largest lead of the day at 45-25.

Leading 49-30 with 7:18 to go after another Deiter bucket, the Lions went on a six-plus minute drought of their own as the Pioneers got to within 10 at 49-39. Leazier, however put the drought – and the contest – to bed with a 3-pointer with 52 seconds remaining.

Deiter finished 4-for-7 from the field and, more impressively, 4-for-4 at the foul line while adding a team-high five assists. In her last two games, Deiter has 20 points, 15 rebounds, and seven assists.

Branchizio finished with nine points and matched her season high with six rebounds, while Leazier had eight points, six boards, and three assists. Toy tallied eight points on 3-of-5 shooting and grabbed four caroms.

Sydney Blum had four points and five rebounds, and Morgan Heller notched a pair of blocks.

Justina Cabezas finished with 14 points and seven rebounds to lead WPU, which was just 1-for-8 from 3-point range and never shot better than 33.3 percent in any quarter.

TCNJ has held five of its last seven opponents to 41 points or less.

The Lions look to stretch their winning streak to five when they host Rutgers-Newark on Wednesday, January 11.