Mahwah, NJ: The Pioneers of William Paterson posted their fourth win in the New Jersey Athletic Conference tonight at the Bradley Center defeating the Roadrunners, 72-43. William Paterson improves to 12-4 overall and remains in first place of the North Division of the conference. Ramapo falls to 3-13 overall, 0-5 in the conference.
The Pioneers opened to a 7-0 lead after a three-pointer by Michelle Pellichero (Milltown, NJ) started the action just five seconds in. Lauren Moschel (Fair Lawn, NJ) drained a three-pointer off an inbounds pass with two seconds on the shot clock to bring Ramapo within four before a missed jumper from William Paterson followed by a jumper from rookie Brittany Royer (Westwood, NJ) at 17:54 closed the gap, 5-7. Over the next 11 minutes, the Pioneers forced nine Ramapo turnovers and went on an 18-5 run to take a 25-10 lead with 6:53 left to play in the half. The Roadrunners got on the board at 5:55 when Malika Gilliam (Roselle, NJ) sunk a three-pointer off a dish from Samantha Grippo (Edison, NJ) but the Pioneers answered with a three-pointer of their own from junior guard Lauren Miller (Colonia, NJ) to go up 28-13. The team's biggest lead (16) came at 2:49 when Phelan Livingston (Newton, NJ) hit the back end of a two shot foul, 29-13. China and Moschel sunk a jumper and a three-pointer respectively to chip away and come within 11 and the Pioneers came right back to head into the locker room with a 36-21 lead over Ramapo.
Asia Johnson (Wildwood, NJ) led the Pioneers with nine first half points shooting 2-5 and a perfect 5-5 from the line while the team combined for 11 baskets going 11-27 hitting 41% of their shots. Moschel led all Roadrunners with six points and the team shot 7-24 (29%).
WPU hit three field goals from behind the arc, split by two good free throws from Tiffany China (West Orange, NJ) to open the second half on a 9-2 run to go up 47-23. Julie Haledjian (Montvale, NJ) sunk the first field goal and Pellichero drained back-to-back threes to give the Pioneers the 24 point edge. The Pioneers hit eight field goals and 17 free throws to go up by as many as 29 shooting 35% in the half.
Johnson finished with a team high 15 points and seven rebounds while Haledjian dished out a team high four assists. Pellichero went 3-8 from the field sinking 11 points in the win. Ramapo's China finished with 11 points and Moschel wrapped up the night with ten. The Roadrunners combined for 12 field goals on 49 attempts (25%) in the game and WPU sunk 19-50 (38%).
Ramapo heads to Rowan University on Saturday, January 26th to continue NJAC play at 1:00 PM while William Paterson hosts the College of New Jersey at 1:00 PM.
