Box Score

ASHLAND, Va. – The William Paterson women's basketball team (23-5) built a big lead and was able to hold on down the stretch, upsetting No. 22/22 McDaniel (23-4) 69-61 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament March 2 at Crenshaw Gymnasium in Ashland, Va.

The Pioneers will advance to face host Randolph-Macon, a first-round winner against Piedmont, in the NCAA's second round Saturday, March 3, at 7:00 p.m. in Ashland.

Ahead by two at halftime (34-32), William Paterson quickly found itself up 12 (46-34, 13:33), and senior Melissa Moore's (East Orange, N.J./North Bergen) conversion of a high-low pass from classmate Luci Custis (Roselle, N.J./Abraham Clark) made it a 51-36 score with 12:44 on the clock. On the very next play, Custis was whistled for her fourth foul, and was forced to the bench alongside fellow starter Elisa Brown (Norwalk, Conn./Norwalk), who had picked up her fourth 4:32 into the period.

The Green Terror started to chip away at that lead, scoring seven of their next 14 points from the free-throw line, to pull within six at 56-50 (7:31). Moore went 1-for-2 in two straight trips to the line, and junior Michelle Pellichero (Milltown, N.J./Bishop Ahr) nailed a 15-footer on the left baseline, to push the advantage back to 10 (60-50, 5:26), but three straight layups by Theresa Hess and a three from the top of the key by Robbin Gregg made it a one-point margin (60-59) with 2:08 to play.

Pellichero answered immediately, coming off a curl to drain her fifth trey of the evening (63-59, 1:48). A two-pointer by Gregg was followed by a Brown three off a screen from Pellichero in the right corner (66-61, 59.9), and Pellichero's box-out and rebound of a missed three-point attempt on the ensuing possession all but wrapped up the game for the Pioneers. Pellichero was fouled and made both ends of a one-and-one (68-61, 35.4), and two misses from beyond the arc by McDaniel led to a foul committed against freshman Julie Haledjian (Montvale, N.J./Pascack Hills). She missed the front end of the one-and-one, but Moore tracked down the rebound and passed it back out to Haledjian, who was fouled again and made one of two attempts from the stripe with 4.3 seconds left for the final 69-61 margin.

William Paterson didn't get onto the scoreboard for the first 4:12 of the contest, but the Pioneers eventually owned a 14-9 lead after a Moore three-point play (11:15). The Green Terror put together a 9-0 spurt to jump ahead by four (14-18, 8:37), but both sides battled to gain control of the contest during the next four minutes as the lead changed hands five times until Pellichero drained a three-pointer from the left wing (28-26, 4:17). Sophomore Asia Johnson's (Wildwood, N.J./Wildwood) follow of her own miss nudged WPU ahead 32-26 with 2:59 remaining before the break, and the Pioneers took a 34-32 lead into the locker room.

Moore recorded career bests with her 18 points and 13 rebounds. Pellichero led all scorers with 21 points, shooting 7-for-13 from the field and 5-for-8 from three-point range. Custis, the 2007 NJAC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, scored 10 tallies and added three steals, while Johnson came off the bench to contribute eight points and 11 rebounds in 20 minutes. Haledjian also played a critical 23 minutes off the bench, filling in ably as several of William Paterson guards were forced to the sideline due to foul trouble. Brown played just 26 minutes (four fouls), Custis was on the floor for 28 minutes (fouled out with 2:27 left), and Lori Custis (Roselle, N.J./Abraham Clark) saw 30 minutes of action (four fouls). Although the final numbers looked close to even in fouls (23-16 WPU) and free-throw attempts (24-18 MC), McDaniel was called for four more fouls (5-1) than William Paterson in the final 6:29, resulting in eight more free throws (8-0) for the Pioneers down the stretch.