Wayne, NJ - Junior Nickie Carter scored on driving layup with three seconds remaining lifting Montclair State to a 54-52 victory over William Paterson at the WPU Rec Center on Wednesday evening.
Carter finished with 17 points as did senior guard Julia Sutton. The Red Hawks (12-7, 10-4 NJAC) posted their sixth straight victory and more importantly remained in third place in the conference standings, a full two games ahead of the Pioneers (9-9, 8-6 NJAC) with four games remaining. Montclair also avenged a 62-56 loss to WPU back in December.
Julia Cabezas had a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds for William Paterson. Precious Allah added 17 points and seven rebounds.
Montclair State trailed 18-16 after the first, but used a 9-4 run late in the second, including five points from Carter to build a 35-30 halftime advantage. William Paterson turned the tables in the third quarter, erasing that deficit and forging a 42-42 tie at Cabezas hit a jumper with two-minutes to go in the period.
Cabezas scored on a layup to begin the fourth as WPU went back in front. Carter and the Pioneers' Brianna Smith traded field goals with a Cabezas layup extended the hosts lead to 48-44 with 5:49 remaining. Yakira Rosa added a free throw for a five-point advantage. A Rylee Mulligan layup trimmed the lead back to 49-46, however Cabezas hit one from the line making the score 50-46.
Sutton answered with 2:35 left, burying a three-pointer to bring MSU within a point and Kelly Smith tied the game at 50-50 on a free throw with 1:45 on the clock. Following a series of misses and turnovers by both teams, Carter gave Montclair State the lead 52-50 with 34 seconds remaining. But the Pioneers deadlocked the game again with 17 seconds as Allah was fouled and hit both free throw attempts.
Following an MSU timeout, Mulligan got the ball at the top of the key. She dribbled in before handing the ball off to Carter on the left side. Carter then made a hard cut around to the right, got a step on her defender and drove nearly uncontested before layup the ball off the backboard for the go-ahead score.
William Paterson would get one last chance, however Trisha Peterson came up with block on the tying field goal attempt to preserve the win for Montclair State.
Peterson finished with 12 rebounds, her second straight double-digit rebound contest and seventh of the year. Megan Duffy had eight points and five rebounds with Smith also grabbing five boards.
The Red Hawks remain on the road for their next contest. Montclair travels to Rutgers-Camden on Saturday, February 5 for a 1:00 pm contest versus the Scarlet Raptors.