Montclair, NJ (2/20/07) –Sophomore center Hillary Klimowicz (Scotch Plains, NJ/Scotch Plains-Fanwood) posted a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds as defending conference champion The College of New Jersey moved into semifinals of the New Jersey Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament with a 60-38 victory over Montclair State at Panzer Gymnasium on Tuesday evening.

Senior forward Breanne Depken (Oradell, NJ/River Dell) added 12 points, seven rebounds and a career-high eight steals for the Lions, who evened their record at 13-13 on the season. New Jersey, the No. 3 seed from league's South Division, now moves into the semifinals on Thursday, February 22 at Kean University. Tip-off at the Harwood Arena in Union, NJ will be at 7:00 pm.

Freshman guard JACKIE BERRY (Tuckerton, NJ/Pinelands Regional) had seven points for Montclair State, which fell to 15-10 on the season while having its six-game winning streak snapped. MSU, the No. 2 seed from the North Division, also fell to the Lions in the conference tournament for the second straight year. Last season, the Red Hawks dropped a 49-43 decision at home to New Jersey in the semifinals.

The Lions, who also avenged a 59-47 loss to Montclair back on December 9, trailed for just two minutes of the contest. After FERIN CATLETT (Lawnside, NJ/Haddon Heights) scored the first basket for MSU, the Lions went on a 10-0 run keyed by Klimowicz, who had six points in the spurt as TCNJ built an eight-point lead. Montclair State would get back within three points as Berry sank a foul shot to make the score, 12-9 however, the Lions embarked on an 11-0 run that ran the lead to double-digits for the remainder of the game.

Lisa Koch (Oak Ridge, NJ/Jefferson Township) started the run with a layup and Alexandra Gregorek (Mahwah, NJ/Academy of Holy Angels) hit two free throws before Depeken hit a jumper for an 18-9 advantage. Nicole Diaz (Egg Harbor Township, NJ/Egg Harbor Township) drained a long three-pointer before Klimowicz capped the spurt with a layup that gave TCNJ a 23-9 lead with 8:27 left.

STEPHANIE MACHIN (New Providence, NJ/New Providence) had a free throw for the Red Hawks to cut the deficit to 25-14 with 4:57 to play, but Montclair could not get any closer as it missed its final eight shots in the half and connected on just 6-of-26 attempts (23 percent) in the half.  TCNJ, which was only slightly better from the floor (11-of-33), could not capitalize either as the game headed into the break with the Lions holding the 25-14 lead.

In the second half, TCNJ quickly expanded the lead with the first eight points. Klimowicz opened the period with a jumper and Karen Lassoni (East Rutherford, NJ/Becton Regional) hit two foul shots before Klimowicz , who had three blocked shots in the game, scored the final four points as the Lions extended the lead 33-14 with 17:25 to play in the game.

Sara Best (High Bridge, NJ/Voorhees) collected eight point and nine rebounds for TCNJ, which got seven points from Diaz. The Lions shot just 39 percent (20-of-51) but were able to overcome their field goal shooting by going 18-of-24 (75 percent) from the charity stripe.  Lisa Koch (Oak Ridge, NJ/Jefferson) had five steals.

Catlett finished with six points, seven rebounds and two blocks for Montclair State, which will now wait to see to if it will be selected into the eight-team field in for the ECAC Division III Metro Tournament which gets underway on Wednesday, February 28. Bids for the ECAC will be announced on Monday, February 26. JESSICA HORAN (West Haverstraw, NJ/North Rockland) had six points while Machin and JESSICA GARRABRANT (Denville, NJ/Morris Knolls) registered nine and 10 rebounds, respectively.