Mahwah, NJ: Sophomore April Smith (Barnegat, NJ) posted a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Pioneers of William Paterson to a 66-63 victory over the Roadrunners of Ramapo College. With the win in the women's basketball NJAC match-up, the Pioneers improve to 18-6 overall, 10-2 in the conference. The Roadrunners fall to 9-15 overall, 4-9 in the conference.

The Roadrunners fell behind 38-32 after the first half, despite shooting 14-26 (54%) from the field, ahead of WPU's 15-35 (43%). The Pioneers out rebounded the Roadrunners 22-13 in the first 20 minutes of play, and forced 11 Roadrunners turnovers. William Paterson recorded ten turnovers. Stephanie Cannizzaro (Pequannock, NJ) opened the game with a two-point basket to give Ramapo the slight advantage, but WPU answered back with a basket from Elisa Brown (Norwalk, CT) to tie the game at 2-2. The Pioneers would grab a 4-2 edge with free throws from April Smith (Barnegat, NJ), before Cannizzaro hit back-to-back baskets to give Ramapo a two-point lead again, 6-4, with 16:46 on the clock. The game would remain within four points until 8:09, when a jump shot from Julie Haledjian (Montvale, NJ) sparked an 11-0 run, to give the Pioneers a 32-20 lead with 5:33 to play. The run was capped off with a two-point goal from Deidra Thompson (Prospect Park, NJ). The Roadrunners wrapped up the half with a 5-0 run to come within six, 38-32, at the buzzer. Lindsey Gripenburg (Bloomingdale, NJ led the Roadrunners with nine first half points and Haledjian led the Pioneers with ten, the only player on the court in double-digits.

The Pioneers spent the first three minutes of the half working back to a double digit lead, and at 15:27, a three-point basket from Haledjian, followed by the front end of a two-shot foul at 14:50, put WPU up 14, 49-35. The Roadrunners answered with an 8-0 run to come within eight with just over 13 minutes to play, and a second run, 10-2, sparked by Cannizzaro at 10:51, put Ramapo within two points, 51-53 with 8:58 on the clock. In the final minutes of the game, the Pioneers biggest lead would be with 1:18 on the clock when Smith hit two baskets from the charity stripe to lead, 65-59. Cannizzaro put away two free throws of her own and Lindsey Jachens (Montvale, NJ) followed with a jump shot to make it a two-point game with 47 seconds to play. The Roadrunners were forced to foul and with 1-2 shooting from Jonnelle Rodriguez (Elizabeth, NJ), the Pioneers earned the 66-63 win. Smith led the Pioneers with eight points in the second half while the team hit 7-24 (29%) from the field. Ramapo combined hitting 9-21 (43%), led by 11 points from Tiffany China (West Orange, NJ).

Haledjian matched Smith's points with 17 of her own and BriAnna Lucas (Hamilton, NJ) netted 13 in her team's 18th victory of the season. China finished the game with 19 points for Ramapo while Cannizzaro and Gripenburg added 12 and 11 respectively. Ramapo hit 23-47 (49%) while the Pioneers went 22-59 (37%) on the day.

The Roadrunners play their final match-up of the season on Tuesday night when they face off with non-conference opponent, Hunter, at 6:00 PM.  The Pioneers take on Montclair State in Wayne, NJ on February 18th at 6:00 PM.