WAYNE, N.J. – The TCNJ women's basketball team overcame a seven-point fourth-quarter deficit and gutted out a 50-48 grinder on Arianna McCleod's driving layup with 1.3 seconds to play in Tuesday night's NJAC opener at William Paterson.
 
The Lions (3-2, 1-0) led for barely two minutes of game time, and never by more than two points, but it hardly mattered in the end as McCleod took an inbounds pass around the three-point line and blew by her defender for the game-winning basket. The Pioneers called timeout to set up a final play but were unable to get off a shot in time.
 
McCleod's clutch hoop was the culmination of a long-simmering comeback in a game that started inauspiciously, with the hosts jumping out to a double-digit lead inside of three minutes after tip-off. TCNJ trailed the whole way from there until Cassidy Brown capped a 7-0 run with a 3-pointer that leveled the score at 45 with 6:01 to play.
 
The teams struggled to score down the stretch, with Nina Branchizio's lay-in making it 48-46 in the Lions' favor with 2:09 left. WPU pulled even with two free throws on its next possession, and both sides came up empty on multiple possessions with a chance to take the lead.
 
The Pioneers appeared to have the game's fate in their hands after grabbing a rebound and calling timeout with 5.8 ticks showing, but the recipient of the inbounds pass stepped on the sideline under tight coverage from Branchizio. That gave the Lions the upper hand and, after a timeout, Branchizio inbounded to her fellow co-captain McCleod, who made no mistake with the game on the line.
 
The Lions fell into a hole quickly, going down 12-2 before the game was three minutes old and trailing as much as 17-6 in the first quarter. Brooke McFadden's basket got them within 19-12 after one, and back-to-back triples from Brown and Branchizio made it 21-18 midway through the second.
 
TCNJ got as close as two in the second quarter, but WPU extended the lead back to seven (29-22) at the break and were up as many as nine points twice in the third, including at 43-34 before Branchizio got it down to seven with a lay-in before the third-quarter buzzer.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• TCNJ shot 38.9 percent for the night (21-of-54), but held the Pioneers to just 32.7 percent (18-of-55), including 1-of-13 in the fourth quarter
• A 40-32 advantage on the glass, including 10 apiece from Katie Fricker and Myah Hourigan-Hutton, helped the Lions overcome 21 turnovers
• Brown, who came into the game with two points on the year, netted a team-high 12 on the strength of a 3-for-4 effort from long range
• Branchizio, McFadden, and McCleod all finished with 10 points; McFadden (5-of-8) and McCleod (5-of-9) combined to go 10-for-17 from the field
• Fricker added seven points and three steals to her 10 boards
• Hourigan-Hutton did not score but came down with the 10 crucial rebounds and led the Lions with three assists

NOTES

• TCNJ has won eight consecutive NJAC openers
• The victory avenged a regular-season loss at WPU a year ago
• McFadden has scored 10 points in back-to-back games
• Branchizio has hit double figures every game this season and has played all 40 minutes in each of the last three

UP NEXT

• The Lions return home to take on Stockton on December 4