Rowan’s comeback effort was denied on Saturday in their, 58-49, loss to the William Paterson Pioneers at Esbjornson Gymnasium. The Pioneers remain supreme in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) with a perfect 13-0 record as they handed Rowan just their second home loss in Glassboro.
“They are balanced,” head coach Kate Pearson said. “They have kind of the right people at all the right spots and they have senior experience.”
Charlotte Carlies helped the Profs stay within reach of a team that averages 20-point victories on a nightly basis. The senior tallied her third double double of the winter, scoring a team-high 11 points along with 13 rebounds and two blocks.
“[Coach Pearson] is really pushing us to have confidence in the middle, you know, going up strong,” Carlies said. “Our team hasn’t really been knocking down the outside shot, so being able to get those pull up jumpers [and] being able to score in the post was really key for us.”
Rowan managed to cut the Pioneers lead to three in the fourth quarter after the visitors led by as much as 15 points during the same quarter. Despite an impressive 14-2 run late in the game, it was quickly shut down when Willaim Paterson’s Mattison Chiera swished a right corner three with about two minutes left to truly assert her squad as the NJAC’s best.
“The three in the corner was definitely a dagger,” Pearson said. “I think that they deserve credit for being able to kind of seal it that way.”
This result ends what was a season-high four game winning streak for Rowan, which included back-to-back overtime wins. Recent contests have displayed a never give up identity, one that Rowan continued to possess even in defeat.
“I thought we showed again, like, no quit,” Pearson said. “There was a couple of runs where we went down and went on scoring droughts, but then came back.”
With five games to go, the Profs will be back on the road next Wednesday when they face the Kean Cougars in Union, New Jersey. Rowan won by a season-best 58 points when they last played Kean in Glassboro on Dec. 10, 2025.
“A lot of the things that we struggled in today were things that were controllable,” Carlies said. “So I feel like today, you know, we were really our biggest enemies, so that’s something that we definitely have to carry over as we’re getting closer to playoffs.”
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