EWING, N.J. – The TCNJ women's basketball team shrugged off a slow start and reclaimed first place in the NJAC with a 70-49 victory over visiting Stockton on Wednesday night.
 
The Lions struggled out of the gates but never let the Ospreys pull away, and the second half turned into a deluge as TCNJ went into cruise control to knock the visitors from their lone perch atop the NJAC standings.
 
Arianna McCleod spearheaded a huge performance from the TCNJ bench, which combined to score 47 points on the night. The junior led all scorers with 17, while Grace Kowalski added 14 and Isabella Cafaro notched a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
 
FOR THE RECORD

• Both teams now stand at 15-8 overall and 12-4 in NJAC play, tied for first place in the league standings. Those two are also tied with New Jersey City, a winner at Rowan on Wednesday

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Stockton took advantage of a disjointed start for the Lions, who missed seven of their first eight shots and turned it over six times in the first seven minutes as the Ospreys grabbed a 9-2 lead
• Trailing 10-4, McCleod splashed a corner 3 to trim the deficit in half, and the visitors maintained that three-point edge (12-9) at the end of the quarter
• The Lions cranked up the defense in the second quarter, forcing six turnovers in the frame and scoring the first five points to take a 14-12 lead
• Knotted at 16-all, Kowalski buried a pull-up 3-pointer and then countered two Stockton baskets with a pair of nice floaters and a free throw to cap a stretch of eight straight TCNJ points for the first-year as the home side took a 24-20 lead into the break
• TCNJ began to separate midway through the third, scoring seven in a row to turn a four-point game into a 37-26 lead
• A 3-pointer by Nina Branchizio preceded a last-second put-back by McCleod to make it 44-31 after three. McCleod opened the fourth with another corner trey, and the rout was on
• Stockton got within 10 twice, but both times the Lions answered with a 3, the first from Cafaro and another from Branchizio to make it 56-43 with 3:58 to go
• Branchizio, Kowalski, and McCleod made 3-pointers before Ella Van Dine sank the first one of her career in the final minute. She later added a lay-up to cap the TCNJ scoring

FOR THE FOES

• Grace Speer scored a team-high 12 points
• Imene Fathi and Emma Morrone scored nine apiece, and Trina Deveny-Bethea had eight points and nine rebounds

STANDOUT LIONS

• McCleod was 7-of-9 from the field (3-of-5 from 3) en route to matching her career high
• Cafaro was a big catalyst in the first half, scoring her first basket seconds after entering the game and putting up eight points and six rebounds in the first 20 minutes. She finished 5-of-7 from the floor
• Kowalski was 3-for-4 from distance
• Branchizio scored all 11 of her points after halftime

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Kowalski (8), Cafaro (8), and McCleod (5) combined for all but three of TCNJ's first-half points
• TCNJ shot 13-for-27 (48.1 percent) from 3-point range, making 8-of-14 in the fourth quarter alone
• Cafaro, Kaitlyn Deiter, and Julia Setaro each blocked two shots, and Setaro also swiped three steals
• TCNJ held the Ospreys to just 30.6 percent from the field (19-for-62)

NOTES

• TCNJ has swept Stockton in each of the last two seasons

UP NEXT

• TCNJ heads to Ramapo on Saturday for its final road game of the regular season