Montclair, NJ – Sophomore guard Janitza Aquino (Kearny, NJ, Kearny) tied a career-high with a game-high 20 points to lead undefeated Montclair State University to its 26th straight victory with a 76-47 win over Rutgers University-Newark in a semifinal contest of the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship Tournament Wednesday evening at the Panzer Athletic Center.

Aquino got help from three other MSU players who reached double figures in scoring. Senior forward Taylor Jeffers (Franklin Township, NJ, Franklin) scored 16 points with junior guard Taylor Jeffers (Franklin Township, NJ, Franklin), the NJAC Defensive Player, scoring 16 points, grabbing a team high-tying nine rebounds and made five steals. The NJAC Player of the Year, sophomore forward Melissa Tobie (Elizabeth, NJ, Roselle Catholic) collected 11 points, five rebounds and seven assists for the Red Hawks.

Montclair State, which is ranked fifth in the nation on the D3Hoops.com Top25 Poll and seventh on the USA Today/Women's Basketball Coaches Association Poll, remains one of two unbeaten teams in NCAA Div. III this season at 26-0. MSU, which won its only NJAC championship in 1994-95, now advances to the tournament's title game. The top seed following a perfect 16-0 mark in NJAC play, the Red Hawks will host second-seed and two-time defending NJAC champion William Paterson University on Saturday at 2 p.m.

MSU, which has already set school records for the best start to a season and for consecutive victories, breaks the school record for wins in a season, which was set by the 1977-78 team that recorded a 25-7 campaign and reached the Final Four of the AIAW Championship at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion. The basketball squad also tied the longest winning streak by any athletic team in school history, which was set by the softball team in 2008. The Red Hawks, who have also won their last 19 games at home dating back to last season, have defeated Rutgers-Newark in the last four straight meetings, including three times this season, and lead the all-time series 47-7.

Ranked second in the nation in scoring margin (28.8 ppg.) and seventh in scoring defense (44.9 ppg.), Montclair State won by 20-plus points for the 20th time this season while allowing more than 50 points for just the third time.

MSU used a 17-1 scoring run, including a stretch of 11 straight points, to take a comfortable 17-3 lead with 12:21 remaining in the first half.  Henry, who scored all of her points in the first half, topped the scoring spree with nine points.

Rutgers-Newark, the fourth seed, had a four-game winning streak snapped in finishing its season with an 18-9 record. The Scarlet Raiders, who held their lead of the game at 2-0, came back to close the deficit to 22-13 with 7:27 left in the opening stanza, the last time the Scarlet Raiders got within single digits. MSU built its margin back up to as much as 20 points twice in the first half, the last at 39-19 with 1:19 on the clock before heading into the intermission ahead 39-21.

Montclair State, which has been victorious by double digits in every game this season, was challenged briefly in the second half. Rutgers-Newark, which trailed by 24 points at 68-44 with 6:01 to play, went on an 11-1 run to get to within 14 points at 69-55 with 4:08 left. That would be as close as the Scarlet Raiders would get. MSU would shut out Rutgers-Newark the rest of the way, scoring the final 14 points of the game and reaching its biggest margin in the game at game's end.

MSU, ranked second in the nation in steals per game (18.3), pilfered 18 in the contest. The Red Hawks, who also rank third in turnover margin (12.48), forced Rutgers-Newark into 28 turnovers.

Junior forward Jewell Palmer (Port Reading, N.J./Woodbridge) turned in "double-double" performances to lead Rutgers-Newark with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Sophomore forward also scored 12 points for the Scarlet Raiders.