Montclair, NJ – The Drive for Five is complete. The Montclair State women's basketball team became the first school in 26 years to win five straight New Jersey Athletic Conference championships following a 71-61 win over Rutgers-Newark on Saturday at the Panzer Athletic Center.
All five starters scored in double figures for the Red Hawks (25-2), who became the first team since Kean to capture five consecutive crowns. The Cougars won the first nine league championships from 1983-1991.
The victory gave No. 15 Montclair the NJAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament where it will make its eighth overall appearance. The full bracket will be unveiled on Monday, February 27 in a live Selection Show on NCAA.com beginning at 2:30 pm.
Junior Katie Sire, the NJAC Player of the Year, recorded a double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds as top-seeded MSU got everything it could from sixth-seeded Rutgers-Newark, which was the first No. 6 seed to advance to the title contest. The Scarlet Raiders (12-16) got a game-high 26 points from sophomore guard Faith Ashby and 19 points by Maria Simmons.
An early five-point lead but Rutgers-Newark turned into a 13-11 advantage for Montclair after Taylor Harmon collected a three-point play with 3:31 to go. Zoe Curtis added a layup and four straight points from Kate Tobie pushed the lead to 19-11 with 97 seconds remaining. Ashby scored the next four with the teams trading the final two buckets for a 21-17 MSU lead after one period.
A nine-point spurt to open the second widened the Red Hawks' lead to 30-17 after Sire hit from short range with 4:57 left. Rutgers-Newark called timeout and it worked out for the Raiders who scored 13 of the final 15 points in the period to pull within 32-30 at the break.
Simmons scored four the first six points for the Raider to open the second half swinging the lead back to the visitors 36-34. The lead would change hands three times before Montclair took it back on a jumper by Sage Bennett, 41-40 with 5:28 left. The Red Hawks extended the lead to four points twice and led 53-47 in the closing seconds before Simmons' layup ahead of the quarter buzzer made the score 53-49 heading into the final quarter.
Two free throws by Simmons 26 seconds into the period and a jumper from Ashby knotted the game at 53-53 with 8:52. Montclair State, which has won seven straight games, then embarked on an 11-point run to break the game open. Bennett had the first basket with just under eight minutes before Rachael Krauss followed with back-to-back three-pointers. Sire made it three straight triple as Montclair State took a 64-53 lead with 5:18 to play.
Rutgers-Newark dipped the lead back under double digits twice in the closing minutes but Krauss put the exclamation point on the victory with a deep three-point field goal in the waning seconds.
Tobie finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists for MSU, which shot 51 percent from the field in the second half and dominated on the boards outrebounding the Raiders 48-29, including 16 offensive. Curtis and Krauss each had 12 points with Bennett registering 10 points along with six rebounds and three assists.