William Paterson Cruises into ECAC Women's Basketball Semifinals
William Paterson University cruised to an 81-63 victory over Baruch College in the ECAC Women’s Basketball Tournament Quarterfinals played Saturday afternoon.
Renee Wells scored her 1,000th career point, leading the Pioneers with a team-high 21 points, while adding in 9 rebounds, 3 steals, and a block. She was one of four William Paterson players in double-figures, with Brianna Smith (16), Patty Walsh (11), and Mattison Chiera (10), all reaching that mark for the Pioneers.
Leading the charge for Baruch was Mia Castillo, who netted game-highs of 34 points and 6 assists, while adding 5 rebounds and 3 steals on the afternoon. Angela Bacarella had 10 points and Elissa Leung led all players with 4 steals in the game.
William Paterson raced out to an 11-2 lead just a few minutes into the game and held a high single-digit/low double-digit lead for the rest of the opening frame, leading 25-13 at the end of the first quarter. The Pioneers again scored 25 points in the second quarter, and pushed their lead to 22 points, leading 50-28 at the break.
The lead stretched to a game-high 30 points towards the end of the third quarter, but after that, Baruch would make a bit of a run. The Bearcats shot 61 percent from the floor in the fourth quarter and used a 22-8 run to make it a 14-point game, but Baruch would run out of time to really threaten with their comeback and William Paterson would win, 81-63.
William Paterson advances to the ECAC Tournament Semifinals to play Hunter College on Sunday, March 9th at 1:00 p.m.