Montclair, NJ – Senior All-NJAC guard Kate Tobie scored a career-high 21 points while conference Player of the Year Katie Sire added 11 along with a career-best 19 rebounds as top-seeded Montclair State advanced to the championship game of the NJAC Women's Basketball Championship with a 65-55 win over fourth-seeded Rowan University on Tuesday evening.
Senior Taylor Harmon, MSU's third All-Conference pick, added 16 rebounds for the Red Hawks (22-3), who will go for their sixth consecutive league crown on Friday, February 23 at home against second-seeded The College of New Jersey. The Lions knocked off third-seeded Stockton 70-56 in Ewing in the other semifinal.
Montclair State and TCNJ split their regular-season series. The Red Hawks posted a 54-51 victory at the Panzer Athletic Center on January 13 with the Lions returning the favor at Packer Hall a month later recording a 62-59 triumph.
Domonique Peters finished with 15 points leading four players in double figures as the Profs closed out their season at 16-10 with their third loss to Montclair this season.
Montclair led 14-12 after one quarter but fell behind in the second 21-19 before Tobie tied the game with two free throws and then put MSU in front 23-21 with 2:34 left. April Szymczyk knotted the game back up at 23-23 on the next possession. Harmon, who scored 12 in the first half, regained the lead for MSU again however a Summer Crilley jumper with 43 seconds left forged the eighth tie of the opening half, 25-25.
Harmon answered that with a jumper on the next possession giving the Red Hawks a 27-25 advantage at the half.
A three-point play by Peters with 7:28 to go in the third gave Rowan a 30-28 lead before MSU scored the next seven points to take the lead for good. Sire, who was held scoreless in the first half, made two at the line for her first points and then converted a three-point play for a 33-30 advantage. Harmon followed with a three-point play of her own putting Montclair up six with 6:08 to play in the third.
Sire scored four straight to extend the lead to 43-35 and her two free throws with one second left in the quarter sent Montclair State into the final period up 49-40.
Tobie took over in the fourth with nine consecutive MSU points. She bookended a pair of three-point shots around a conventional three-point play making the free throw after spinning a finger-roll shot in with 9:17 remaining. Those nine points gave the Red Hawks their largest lead at 58-43.
Rowan chipped away at that deficit and got within 63-55 with 1:45 to play. But that would be as close as the Profs would get as Harmon and Alex McKinnon each hit a foul shot for the final score.
McKinnon finished with nine points and 10 rebounds for Montclair State, which outrebounded Rowan 49-35, including 18-8 on the offensive glass. Tobie also added four steals and four assists bringing her career total to 538 moving her into second place on the all-time assist list at MSU.