By Joseph Caruso
Staff Writer
The College’s women’s basketball team continued their hot stretch with two dominant wins this past week. They defeated Rowan 73-56 on Jan. 24, and Montclair State 68-55 on Jan. 27.
Going into their home affair against the Profs of Rowan, the College had won back to back games of conference play to sit atop the NJAC. The Lions looked to make it three in a row against a Rowan team that has struggled on the road, going just 1-5 up to this point in the season.
The College got off to an early lead, opening up a seven point cushion after just one quarter of action. Led by leading scorers Julia Setaro and Nina Branchizio, each with 19 points, the College kept the Profs away and won the game easily by 17 points, extending their win streak to three.
Setaro, a senior, has been the Lions leading scorer this year, averaging 14.8 points per game and hitting double digits in 14 of the Lions’ 20 contests so far this season. Branchizio, a junior, is averaging double digit points this season as well, with 10.8.
The College followed up their win against Rowan with a trip to Montclair State for a matchup with the Red Hawks, who found themselves at 5-7 in conference play prior to their game against the Lions.
Yet again, the College jumped out to an early lead, going into the locker room at halftime up thirteen points. The Redhawks would not get any closer, as the Lions secured this road win 68-55 to grab their fourth straight victory.
The College had a three-headed monster of Setaro, freshman Grace Kowalski and Branchizio, who scored 21, 18 and 17 points respectively.
The Lions, who have found themself winners of four straight, are in a three-way tie for first place in the NJAC with Kean and Stockton. With just five games to go in the season, every matchup is crucial.
Two of the College’s remaining five games are “must win” affairs, but these next few games may be the deciding factors in the season. The next two games are against the aforementioned Kean and Stockton, when they host Kean on Jan. 31, and face off against Stockton at home one week later on Feb. 7.
