Montclair, NJ – Junior guard Zoe Curtis scored a career-high 18 points leading four players in double figures as Montclair State got past SUNY Poly, 55-48 in the first round of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship at the Panzer Athletic Center on Friday evening.
Sophomore guard Kate Tobie added 10 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals for the Red Hawks (22-6), who extended their winning streak to 11 games. Montclair will face Albright College (26-2) in the second round on Saturday, March 5 at 5:00 pm. The winner advances to the NCAA Sectional Tournament next weekend on March 11-12.
Senior forward Lauren Knowles posted a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds for SUNY Poly, which closed out its season at 23-6. The Wildcats were making their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament after capturing the North Eastern Athletic Conference title last Saturday.
A fast 5-0 start by the Red Hawks was matched by the Wildcats in the first three minutes before MSU scored 11 of the next 13 points for a 16-7 lead as Tiarra Dillard scored on a layup with 2:13 to play. Geena Gallo and Shelbey Kralik finished off the quarter for SUNY Poly as the visitors closed within 16-11 after one quarter.
Erika Charbonneau opened the next quarter with a layup for a three-point game however Montclair countered with an eight-point spurt, including six from sophomore Katie Sire as the lead grew to 24-11 with 4:41 left. A Curtis layup matched MSU's largest lead at 26-15 before the Wildcats again closed out with a 5-1 run, the last bucket by Gallo pulling SUNY Poly within 27-20 at the break.
Montclair State would hold on to the lead and grew it to 40-27 as Taylor Harmon registered a three-point play with 1:26 to go in the quarter. But once again the Wildcats finished out the period on a 5-0 run trimming the lead to 40-32.
SUNY Poly began the fourth with the first six points and had a chance to tie the game with 6:09 left as Gallo went to the line for two she missed the first and made the second allowing MSU to hold on to a 40-39 lead. Curtis then delivered in a big way with a three-pointer from the right wing pushing the advantage back to 43-39.
The Wild cats would get within three points twice more, the last on a layup by Knowles with 2:18 to go making the score 48-45. MSU turned the ball over but the Wildcats couldn't capitalize as Ray misfired on a three-point attempt. Curtis grabbed the rebound and was fouled. She made two at the line with 1:51 to go. After Knowles hit a foul shot, the Wildcats got the ball back off a miss but turned it over as Tobie came up with a steal. Harmon made two free throws extending the lead to 52-46. Sire would add two more with 29 seconds as MSU led 54-46.
Harmon had 11 points and seven rebounds off the bench for Montclair State which got 10 points and eight rebounds from Sire. The Red Hawks held the Wildcats to just 25 percent shooting (15-of-61), including 4-of-20 from three-point range. That helped offset a 51-40 deficit on the boards, including a 20-12 edge on the offensive glass for SUNY Poly.
Ray posted a team-high 18 points while Gallo had eight points and eight rebounds.