San Juan, Puerto Rico – Junior forward Melissa Tobie (Elizabeth, NJ, Roselle Catholic) scored 18 points while senior Nicosia Henry (Bolingbrook, IL, Bolingbrook) added 16 along with nine rebounds as No. 11 Montclair State knocked off Westfield State 73-62 in the San Juan Shootout at the Mario Morales Colesium on Saturday.
Sophomore Sandra Gee (Allentown, PA, Emmaus) had 10 points off the bench as the Red Hawks (9-1) returned from their 11-day layoff to record their third straight victory.
Montclair State will play Salisbury University on Sunday, December 29 at 3:00 pm.
MSU, playing for the first time since December 17, never trailed in the contest and, after a 2-2 tie, took the lead for good as Tobie connected from behind the arc with 17:58 to play. MSU maintained its advantage and led 8-7 before going on a 10-point run over a five-minute span to take control. Henry had of the points, including the first and last baskets with the final one pushing the MSU lead to 18-7 with 12:15 left in the opening period.
Gee later added four points later in the half and a three-point play by Henry with 5:16 left gave Montclair State its largest lead of the half at 34-13 as the Red Hawks took a 39-21 advantage into halftime.
The Owls would get within 45-33 with 14:24 to play in the second half however Montclair responded with a 9-0 run capped off by a layup from Janitza Aquino (Kearny, NJ, Kearny) that gave MSU a 54-33 lead with just over 12 minutes to play.
Aquino had eight points with Kayla Ceballos (Brooklyn, NY, Christ the King) netting the same total off the bench.