Galloway, NJ – The Montclair State women's basketball team had its 17-game winning streak snapped as the No. 20 Red Hawks fell at Stockton University, 69-65 on Saturday.
Senior Katie Sire had 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists as Montclair suffered its first loss since a 66-56 loss at Ithaca back on November 18. It was also the first conference loss for the Red Hawks (19-2), who remain in first place in the NJAC at 14-1, two games ahead of The College of New Jersey (12-3).
Sasha Williams had 20 points, eight rebounds and six blocks for the Ospreys (14-8, 10-5), which earned a split of the season series after falling to MSU at the Panzer Athletic Center, 60-52 on January 6.
The Red Hawks trailed 16-8 after the first quarter and were trailing by as many as 11 with four minutes left in the second before closing within one at the break. Alex McKinnon had eight MSU points in the 15- spurt, including back-to-back three pointers making the score 29-24. She later added a layup before a Domonique Wirsing bucket with four seconds sent MSU into the break down a point at 32-31.
Sire's three-pointer early in the third gave Montclair State its first lead a 36-35 however Stockton regained the lead and went back up by six points twice, the last coming on two foul shots by Najha Treadwell for a 46-40 advantage with 2:19 to play in the quarter. MSU rallied again with eight of the final 10 points. Freshman Taylor Brown sank two free throws with two seconds left knotting the contest at 48-48.
Taylor Harmon got the lead back for the Red Hawks early in the fourth and a three-pointer by McKinnon put MSU in front 60-56 with 6:42 to play. But the Ospreys tied the game moved back in front 62-61 after Lea Mendolla connected on a jumper with 2:43 left. Treadwell added a short jumper in the paint for a three-point lead. Harmon got Montclair within 64-63 with 31 seconds left but Mendolla answered with two at the line making the score 66-63 with 25 seconds.
A miss by the Red Hawks at the other end led to another two free throws by Stockton as Hailee Porcelli extended the lead to 68-63. Williams added another with seven seconds left to all but seal the game for the Ospreys. Janae Mayefield scored for MSU with two seconds left for the final margin.
Harmon finished with 16 points and six rebounds while McKinnon tallied 14 points and five rebounds. Brown chipped in with nine points and six rebounds for MSU, which was without All-NJAC point guard and the league's assist leader Kate Tobie, who missed her second straight contest.
Montclair will look to bounce back when it returns to action on Wednesday, February 7 at home against New Jersey City University with tipoff set for 6pm.