WAYNE, NJ – Rutgers-Newark battled but could not get past heavily-favored William Paterson in the title game of the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship Tournament, falling 63-49.

BOX SCORE & PLAY-BY-PLAY

Senior forward Jaleesa Coleman fought through foul trouble to lead the Scarlet Raiders (19-9) with 18 points and six rebounds while freshman guard ShaQuanna Marshall finished with a dozen points, five rebounds and two assists.

Sophomore guard Kristen Venning pulled down a team-high eight rebounds while junior guard Brittany Smith contributed seven points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Junior guard Jared Tactuk scored five points.

Junior guard BriAnna Lucas keyed the Pioneers (24-3) with 25 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists while junior center April Smith dominated inside with 21 points, 16 rebounds and two blocked shots.

After falling behind 7-2, Coleman had six points and Marshall four as the Scarlet Raiders stormed into the lead by attacking the Pioneer defense during a 15-4 rally.

A steal and coast-to-coast layup by Marshall gave Rutgers-Newark a 17-11 lead with 9:18 left in the opening period, but WPU head coach Erin Monahan called time out and switched to a 2-3 zone defense. It turned out to be the decisive call of the day.

The Raiders managed only a driving one-handed jumper by Smith for the remainder of the period as Smith netted 10 of her 13 first half points to spark the Pioneers to a 22-2 run which made the halftime score 33-19.

Coleman, who sat the final 3:45 of the opening half with three personal fouls, gunned in a jumper and a 3-pointer to open the second half before Venning followed up a missed fast-break layup with a bucket to trim the WPU lead to 33-26.

But Lucas sandwiched a trey and a follow shot around a follow shot by Smith to put the Pioneers up 40-26. Coleman picked up her fourth personal foul while sending Smith to the free throw line for a pair which made it 42-28.

Rutgers-Newark had a chance in the closing minutes when a Mercedes Glover 3-pointer from the right side cut the Raider deficit to 54-46. But Smith got inside position on an inbounds pass for and easy bucket and Lucas came up with a steal and a breakaway layup to push the lead back to 58-46 with less than three minutes left.

The Pioneers had rolled past Rutgers-Newark 77-58 in Wayne and 66-41 in The Golden Dome, but the upstart Scarlet Raiders had downed The College of New Jersey, 63-48, at home before shocking No. 5 ranked Kean, 54-51, in Union on Wednesday.

WPU earned it second NJAC title – its first since 1993 – and now waits for tomorrow night's NCAA Division III Championship bracket announcement.

Rutgers-Newark (19-9) will be looking for an almost certain invitation to the ECAC Metro Championship Tournament. The 8-team field will be announced on Monday afternoon.  It was the first trip to the NJAC championship game in Scarlet Raider women's basketball history.