Ewing, NJ: The #1 seeded College of New Jersey women's basketball team earned a 70-50 NJAC Semifinal win over #5 seeded Ramapo College. The Lions improve to 18-8 overall and advance to the NJAC Championship game on Friday. The Roadrunners drop to 16-11 over all and will wait to see if they earn an ECAC Tournament bid on Monday afternoon. As the top seed, the Lions will host #2 New Jersey City University in the conference championship at 7:00 PM on Friday.
TCNJ jumped out to a 5-0 lead with a three-pointer from Julia Setaro and a jumper from Natalie Kolb.
Shannon Burns and
Jada Thompson scored a pair of baskets between a Nina Branchizio jumper as TCNJ led, 7-4. Ramapo cut the lead to two, 9-7, with a free throw from Thompson and a jumper from
Karly Wittenbauer. TCNJ answered with a 13-0 run including three straight three-pointers to go up 23-7 with under two minutes to play in the first quarter.
Jackie Ventricelli started a 10-2 run to close out the quarter scoring a three and jumper. TCNJ added a basket before Thompson scored a layup and sank a three-pointer as time expired in the half. TCNJ led by eight heading into the second quarter, 25-17. A 12-0 run by the Lions in the second set the tone as they took a 37-17 lead with 5:44 on the clock. Ramapo went on a 7-2 run of their own to close the gap, 39-24. TCNJ scored the final three points of the quarter as they went into halftime with a 42-24 lead.
Ramapo outscored TCNJ in the third quarter 20-15 while the Lions held the Roadrunners to just six points in the fourth quarter. During the third, Thompson poured in nine points while Ventricelli added six to lead the team. Ramapo cut the lead to eleven on an and-one play from Ventricelli, 44-55. TCNJ scored the final points of the third from the free throw line as Setaro added two points for the Lions, 57-44. TCNJ held a commanding lead through the fourth as they opened with a 10-1 run to take a 22 point lead, 67-45 with under 4:30 to play in the game. Burns sank a jumper and
Olivia Johnstone connected on a three-pointer for Ramapo's final points in the game. TCNJ added a free throw and a made jumper to close out the 70-50 win.
Ramapo was led by Thompson who tallied 19 points and ten rebounds for her 14th double double of the season. Thompson also added three assists and three blocks. Ventricelli added 12 points, five rebounds and three steals while Burns collected seven rebounds, three blocks and seven points. The team shot 33% (19-56) from the field, 30% (4-13) from the three-point line and 50% (8-16) from the free throw line .
Setaro led all scorers in the game with 24 points to lead TCNJ while Branchizio posted ten points. Kaitlyn Deiter collected 11 rebounds while adding seven points. Katie Fricker tallied eight points and two steals and Isabella Cafaro tacked on seven points. TCNJ shot 40% (25-62) from the field, 20% (5-24) from the three-point line and 71% (15-21) from the free throw line.
