HOBOKEN, N.J. (November 15, 2010) – Junior Jillian Barrett notched the Ducks' first double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds as the Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team and first-year head coach Bri Fecteau scored a 60-45 victory over The College of New Jersey in its home opener at Canavan Arena in Hoboken, N.J.
Barrett got things started less than two minutes into play, laying the ball in for the Ducks first points of the year. TCNJ junior Hannah Tait (Staten Island, N.Y.) then drilled a three to momentarily give TCNJ the lead, but Stevens junior Victoria Webber responded by nailing her first triple of the year to put the Ducks back on top.
Lions' senior guard Nicole Diaz (Egg Harbor, N.J.) connected on a pair of free-throws to knot the game at five with 15:07 left in the half, kick-starting a 9-0 TCNJ run capped off by a Stephanie Prall (Kinnelon, N.J.) bucket. Barrett briefly quelled the Lions' hot-streak with a free-throw at 11:23, but an 8-4 TCNJ rally capped off by a pair of Candace Vigo (New Brunswick, N.J.) free-throws gave the Lions a 10-point edge.
The Ducks responded by mounting a 10-0 run of their own over the next three and a half minutes, getting four-straight points from senior center Victoria O'Connor before back-to- back Dawn Garcia and Brianne Lavin treys on consecutive possession knotted things up at 20.
Minutes later Webber put Stevens on top with a layup – just under the four-minute mark – but a pair of Keri Washington (Ewing, N.J.) free-throws quickly tied things up at 22.
Freshman Avis Benjamin netted her first collegiate basket to put the Ducks' back on top at 2:28 before a Jessica Imhof (Flemington, N.J.) triple helped the Lions regain the lead. With time winding down in the half, Webber connected on a pair of tries from the charity stripe, giving Stevens a slim 26-25 lead heading into the locker room.
Knotted at 30 early in the second, Garcia buried a jumper before freshman Molly Spadaro knifed into the lane to give the Ducks a four-point edge. TCNJ senior center Alex Gregorek (Mahwah, N.J.) answered by converting a three-point play the old-fashioned way, pulling the Lions within one.
Down two after a Tait free-throw, Imhoff once again dialed it up from distance, staking TCNJ to a one-point edge. Just over a minute later Barrett would bank in a trey of her own, kicking-off a decisive 11-0 Ducks run – capped off by a Garcia trey – that made it 47-37 with just over 10 to go.
Still up 10 after a Stevens timeout, Garcia drove the lane, getting the basket and the foul coming out of the break, to stretch the Ducks' lead to 13. Tait trimmed the deficit to 11 with a jumper at the 6:17 mark, but a Webber bucket coupled with a Barrett free-throw upped the Stevens' lead to 14 with under five minutes to play.
TCNJ battled back within 11 on a Tiffany DeTulio (Colts Neck, N.J.) layup at 2:38, but the Ducks closed out the game with four straight points to seal the 60-45 season-opening victory.
Webber finished with a team-high 13 points, adding six rebounds, while Garcia chipped in with 11 points, seven boards and three steals. O'Connor finished with eight points, going 3-for-3 from the field, while senior Paige Armstrong tallied seven rebounds and three steals in the win.
Gregorek and Imhoff paced TCNJ with 13 points and eight rebounds apiece, while Tait and DeTulio combined for 11 points and seven rebounds.
A stingy Ducks defense held the Lions to a paltry 28.8 percent shooting percentage (15-for-52), while holding TCNJ to just 4-of-15 from behind the arc. Stevens, which notched 12 points off of 24 TCNJ turnovers, will host the Stevens Tip-Off Tournament featuring Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham, Alvernia University, and Washington College on November 20-21.
