The College's women's basketball team opened its New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) season with a 57-50 win over the New Jersey City University (NJCU) Gothic Knights on Saturday. The win improved the Lions' overall record to 4-2 (1-0 in the NJAC), while NJCU dropped to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
The game followed a 48-36 loss to the Moravian College Greyhounds last Thursday and a 38-37 win over the Dickinson College Red Devils last Monday.
On Saturday, the Lions led the game 28-13 at the half, relying on junior forward Sara Best, who added seven points and eight rebounds before the end of the first half.
The Gothic Knights' senior guard Latrese McNair helped her team pull within three points of the Lions during the second half.
With 7:15 left in the game and the score 43-34, McNair netted a three-pointer. Forty seconds later, the score was 43-40 after McNair made three of four free throws.
But with 3:40 remaining, the College's senior guard Megan Hueter hit a three-pointer, giving the Lions a 52-40 lead and putting the game out of reach.
Sophomore center Hillary Klimowicz finished the game with a career-high 14 points and 10 rebounds. McNair finished with a game-high 17 points.
On Thursday, the College's record fell to 3-2 while Moravian improved to 4-1.
The Greyhounds led 28-20 by the end of the first half and led the rest of the game to earn their fourth win of the season.
Klimowicz and Best scored 10 points each for the College. Klimowicz also added nine rebounds and six blocks, while senior forward Breanne Depken and freshman center Alex Gregorek each had nine rebounds.
"We were all definitely upset about the loss, but that is part of the game," Gregorek said. "We all have to learn from our mistakes and as a team come together."
On Monday, the Lions narrowly beat the previously undefeated Red Devils in their second home game of the season. The College improved to 3-1 on the season while Dickinson's record fell to 3-1.
The Red Devils managed to bring the score up to 14-13, cutting the Lions' lead to one, before the Lions pulled ahead again to make the score 23-18 by halftime.
Best, Depken and Klimowicz each tallied four points for the College before the half, while senior center Allyson Teatom posted seven points for Dickinson.
"We have the talent and the ability to go real far, we just need to bring everything together," Depken said. "I'm not really worried, because I know we can do it, it's just the matter of wanting it bad enough and having everyone on the same page."
With 12:25 left in the game, Teatom netted a layup to tie the score at 29.
Dickinson freshman guard Brooke Muller earned her team the lead for the first time during the game when she netted a three-pointer with 8:40 left and made the score 32-31.
Hueter made the game-winning shot for the Lions with 55 seconds left. With 8.4 seconds left, the Red Devils got the ball back and Muller missed the chance to win the game.
Klimowicz finished with 10 points and nine rebounds, and Teatom finished with a game-high 13 points for Dickinson.
The Lions will host the Cougars of Kean University for their second NJAC game of the season in Packer Hall today.
