HOBOKEN, N.J. (January 17, 2012) – Senior Jillian Barrett (Philadelphia, Pa.) became only the ninth Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball to ever reach the 1,000 point plateau on Tuesday night, but the Ducks (6-8) dropped a non-conference tilt with Montclair State University (10-7) inside Canavan Arena. Barrett finished just a rebound short of a double-double (12 points, 9 boards) and Victoria Webber (Silver Spring, Md.) led the Ducks with 16 points.

The game was a back-and-forth affair to start with the Red Hawks enjoying a slight 29-28 advantage at the break. The visitors used a zone press on many plays after their made baskets, sometimes causing turnovers but seemingly just as often leading to defensive fouls or easy Stevens buckets. The first half alone featured three ties and six lead changes.

The Ducks shot 44 percent from the field in the first, led by Avis Benjamin (Queens, N.Y.) who had 11 by the break. For the second-straight game, Molly Spadaro (Sewell, N.J.) hit a three in the early going to break a deadlock, and Benjamin's layup at 12:20 gave Stevens a five-point advantage, their largest of the game.

Montclair State climbed back in it, led by Melissa Tobie (Elizabeth, N.J.) and Theresa Towns (Morristown, N.J.), who finished with 25 and 17 points, respectively. Benjamin, Barrett and Dawn Garcia (Brooklyn, N.Y.) accounted for a 5-0 run to give the Ducks the lead again in the final minute of the first half, but MSU answered it and took the one-point halftime lead.

The Red Hawks turned up the pressure after the break, forcing a number of Stevens turnovers in the early minutes as they began to pull away. Montclair scored 20 points off of turnovers for the game – keyed by what seemed to be a shift to a man-to-man press.

The Ducks won the battle of the boards 44-40…MSU made their free throws to ice the game in the final minutes, going 20 of 25 for the game…the Ducks played good perimeter defense, holding the Red Hawks to just 2 of 15 shooting from behind the arc.

Stevens will continue conference play next, hosting Nazareth College on Friday at 6 p.m. A barbeque will also take place at the Schaefer Center in conjunction with that evening's basketball slate.

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