NJAC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL | BRACKET | BUY TICKETS***

EWING, N.J. -  For the fourth time in five seasons, the TCNJ women's basketball team is headed to the NJAC Championship game. The Lions used a complete team effort to secure their spot in Sunday's title bout, throwing the first punch and never looking back in a 79-58, wire-to-wire win over Rutgers-Camden.
 
Amanda Baylock led a trio of double-figure scorers for TCNJ with a game-high 15 points, followed closely by both Katie Fricker (13) and Brooke McFadden (13). Fricker bagged her second straight double-double by corralling a team-high 11 rebounds, while Baylock and Grace Kowalski shared the team-lead with four assists apiece.
 
The Lions (16-10) wasted no time jumping in front in Thursday's semifinal, getting buckets from Kowalski, McFadden and Fricker as part of a game-opening 7-0 run to set the tone. A Baylock 3-pointer pushed TCNJ's lead to 10-2 midway through the quarter before the Scarlet Raptors finally found their footing to the tune of a 7-4 run to end the first.
 
The five-point difference to start the second quarter (14-9) was as close as Rutgers-Camden would get the rest of the way, with another Baylock triple kickstarting an 8-3 spurt to begin the frame that extended the Lions' lead back to 10 at 22-12.
 
The sides traded points through the middle of the frame before TCNJ's defense settled in once again, holding the Scarlet Raptors to just one made shot – a 3-pointer – over the final 4:18 of the half. While the visitors' offense stalled, the Lions got buckets from Fricker, Maddie Bernhardt and Riley Ahrens, with a Kowalski freebie helping close out the half on a 11-3 run that built TCNJ's lead to 40-22 at the break.
 
A 4-0 Katie Fricker run to start the third quarter was answered by a 7-0 response by Rutgers-Camden to trim the lead to 15 (44-29), but consecutive Baylock jumpers pushed the Lions' advantage back to 20 and put any thought of a comeback to rest.
 
Reghan Bice added herself to the scorer's column in the opening minutes of Thursday's fourth quarter, scoring five straight on a triple and a tough catch and lay-in on a feed from Kowalski, before a Myah-Hourigan Hutton lay ballooned the lead to its largest of the night at 30 (73-43). The Scarlet Raptors made one final push, getting as close as 20 with just over two minutes to go, but TCNJ's lead was too much to overcome en route to the 79-58 victory in their final game in Packer Hall this season.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• TCNJ shot 43.9 percent (29-of-66) from the field, 30 percent (10-of-30) from deep and 78.6 percent (11-of-14) from the stripe.
• Rutgers-Camden was held to 35.6 percent (21-of-59) from the floor, 26.1 percent (6-of-23) from beyond the arc and 66.7 percent (10-of-15) at the free throw line.
• TCNJ held a 40-36 edge on the glass and 36-26 lead in points in the paint.
• The Lions converted 17 Rutgers-Camden turnovers into 22 points on the other end.

STANDOUT LIONS

• Baylock led all scorers with 15 points, adding five rebounds and four assists.
• Fricker's 13-point, 11-rebound double-double is her second straight.
• McFadden finished with 13 points, five rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
• Ahrens and Izzy Augustine added eight points apiece off the bench.

FOR RUTGERS-CAMDEN

• Tamyia Collier (12), Hope Goodwine (11) and Zairra Galloway (11) all scored in double figures.
• Courtney Edmundo grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds to pair with nine points and four steals.

NOTES

• The win was the 150th of head coach Chessie Jackson's career.

UP NEXT

• TCNJ will face off against top-seeded and 23rd-ranked William Paterson in the NJAC Championship Sunday, March 1, with tip scheduled for 1 p.m.