Montclair, NJ – Senior guard Janitza Aquino (Kearny, NJ / Kearny) scored 17 points while junior guard Kayla Ceballos (Brooklyn, NY / Christ the King) matched that total off the bench as No. 7/9 rolled its eighth straight victory with an 82-53 win over Vassar College on Monday evening.
Senior forward Melissa Tobie (Elizabeth, NJ / Roselle Catholic) posted a double-double with 15 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks as the Red Hawks stayed unbeaten at 8-0 with their fourth win against the Brewers in five all-time meetings. MSU also avenged its only loss in the series, 63-58 in Poughkeepsie, NY last December.
Junior guard Caitlyn Drakeley (Woodbury / Nonnewaug) had 13 points and six rebounds for Vassar which dropped its second straight falling back to the .500 mark at 4-4.
Montclair State never trailed in the contest and led for all but two minutes of the game. That came at 4-4 with 17:29 left as Vassar's Kim Romanoff (Durham, CT/ Coginchaug Regional) hit a jumper from the right side. Ceballos answered that with a go-ahead three-pointer putting MSU in front for good and also scored the next time down the floor for a 10-6 advantage with 15:34 remaining.
Ariella Rosenthal (Mill Valley, CA / Redwood) scored on a layup cutting the lead back to two points however MSU scored the next 10 points to build a double-digit lead that remained the rest of the game. Sophomore guard Rayven Lucas (Harrison, NJ / Harrison) began the run with three free throws after getting fouled behind the arc and Aquino followed with a triple making the score 16-8. Freshman Katie Sire (Hazlet, NJ / Raritan) finished off the run with the final four points, including a fast-break layup with 10:35 as MSU led 20-8.
Tobie's layup with just under eight minutes left fot the lead to 15 points and the Red Hawks took their largest lead of the half with 1:55 left as Sire made a steal and drove the length of the floor for the layup as Montclair State increased the lead to 37-20.
Tobie had eight points in the opening with Ceballos and Aquino posting eight and seven respectively for Montclair, which held a 37-22 lead at the break.
Aquino scored 10 points making all four of her attempts in the second half for Montclair State, which converted 25 turnovers by Vassar into 29 points. Sire finished with 10 points and she and Kate Tobie (Elizabeth, NJ / Roselle Catholic), who handed out four assists, each grabbed four rebounds.
Allyson Pemberton (Weston, PA / Weston) had 12 points and five rebounds for Vassar with Rosenthal netting 10 points along with seven rebounds.
Montclair State closes out its grueling stretch of five games in 10 days on Wednesday, December 10 when it travels to Wayne, NJ to face local rival William Paterson at 6:00 pm. Vassar is now off until Tuesday, December 30 when it hosts Hartwick at 7:00 pm.