Ithaca, NY – The No. 23 Montclair State women's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season as the Red Hawks were upended by Ithaca College, 66-56 in the Cortica Classics on Saturday afternoon.

Senior Taylor Harmon scored 18 points while classmate Katie Sire added 14 along with eight rebounds as MSU fell to 2-1 on the year. Cassidy O'Malley scored 18 points for the Bombers (2-0).

Montclair State trailed 14-11 after one period and fell behind by six as Annie Giannone hit from behind the arc 67 seconds into the new period.  The Red Hawks would still be behind by the same margin with 3:21 left however they would end the half on an 8-0 run to take a 27-25 advantage.

Harmon scored the first four points and Kate Tobie tied the game at 25-25 with 1:11 remaining on a layup off the break. After an Ithaca miss, Domonique Wirsing got the rebound and later fed Harmon for a short jumper giving MSU its first lead of the contest.

Harmon would score the first two points in the second half pushing the lead to 29-24 and her bucket with 8:16 left made the score 31-27. Ithaca responded with a 13-2 run over the next four minutes building a 40-33 lead after a jumper by Erin Woop. Giannone's basket late in the quarter got the lead to eight points before Sire's two free throws cut the deficit to 46-40.

Giannone began the fourth quarter with a three as the lead went to 49-40. Montclair State would only get as close at seven points the rest of the way.

Tobie finished with eight points and seven rebounds for Montclair State while Wirsing put up seven points along with nine rebounds.

The Red Hawks return home for their NJAC opener on Tuesday, November 21 against Kean University with tipoff scheduled for 6:00 pm at the Panzer Athletic Center.