EWING, N.J. (Jan. 18, 2023) – The College of New Jersey women's basketball team opened up a 17-point halftime lead and went on to defeat Rutgers University-Camden, 74-47, in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game here Wednesday night.
 
TCNJ improved to 12-5 overall and 7-3 in the NJAC, while Rutgers-Camden fell to 2-15 and 0-10.
 
The Lions have won their last 12 games against the Scarlet Raptors and lead the all-time series, 66-12. The Scarlet Raptors' last win in the series came on Jan. 18, 2017, by a 69-40 score in Camden.
 
TCNJ scored the first four points of the game, but Rutgers-Camden bounced back with six of the next nine as it cut the gap to 7-6. The Scarlet Raptors trailed, 13-10, after one quarter but once again came within one point when freshman forward Catherine Albizu hit a jumper to open the second quarter.
 
Leading, 18-14, the Lions scored the next five points, with the last three coming from freshman guard Katie Fricker, as they opened up a 23-14 lead. By halftime, that margin had increased to 38-21 in favor of the Lions. Senior guard/forward Jalissa Pitts scored 13 of those points for the Scarlet Raptors, but the Lions placed six players in the scoring column in the first 20 minutes, led by 10 points from sophomore guard Nina Branchizio and nine from senior guard Julia Setaro.
 
The Lions led, 56-36, entering the fourth quarter.
 
Setaro and junior guard/forward Izzy Leazier both finished with 12 points for TCNJ, while Branchizio added 11. Leazier added a team-high seven rebounds for the Lions.
 
Jalissa Pitts finished with a game-high 25 points and nine rebounds for the Scarlet Raptors, while senior guard/forward Rahzirah Blocker added 20 points and eight boards. Jalissa Pitts and junior forward Carleigh Galasso both had a pair of blocked shots.
 
The 25 point-output leaves Jalissa Pitts with 963 career points, 37 shy of becoming the 15th player in program history to join the 1,000-point club.
 
The Lions shot 29-for-65 from the floor (44.6), while the Scarlet Raptors shot 18-for-56 (32.1). Rutgers-Camden was 0-for-11 from three-point range and was out-rebounded, 45-32.
 
The Scarlet Raptors return to action Saturday when they host Montclair State University in a 1 p.m. NJAC game.